SE Rally Falls Short in Semifinal Loss

SHAWNEE, Okla. – Southeastern mounted a furious rally, scoring 21 points over the final 2:42 of the game looking to erase a double-digit deficit, but would see its comeback fall just short in a 77-74 loss to Southern Nazarene in the semifinals of the Great American Conference tournament on Saturday afternoon in Shawnee, Okla.
 
The loss drops the Savage Storm to 24-6 on the season, ending an eight-game winning streak and leaving SE waiting until Sunday night's NCAA Division II Tournament announcement to learn its postseason fate.
 
In a rare outing, Southeastern only had three players in double-figures, led by Adam Dworsky who put up 26 points on 9-of-15 shooting overall with a 6-of10 performance from beyond the arc, while handing out four assists and grabbing five rebounds.
 
Ante Brzovic turned in another double-double, his 16th overall on the season and seventh in-a-row, posting 17 points and hauling in 12 rebounds, and nearly picked up a triple double as he handed out a team-best seven assists.
 
Bobby Johnson rounded out the double-digit scoring with 13 on a 6-of-9 shooting effort.
 
Jett Sternberger and RJ Weeks each added seven points in the effort.
 
SE finished the contest shooting 46.0 percent and would hit 10 threes, but five of those would come in the final three minutes.
 
SNU scored the first four points, and Southeastern answered right back with an 8-0 run, caped by a Brzovic three.
 
A Johnson three would give the Savage Storm an 11-6 lead, its largest, at the 13:57 mark.
 
After a Crimson Storm rally tied the game, SE would again push its lead back out to five points on a Dworsky three with an 18-13 advantage.
 
SNU would again close the gap, this time taking a brief lead with 6:32 to play in the half, SE would answer and from that point on no team would lead by more than one possession, with Southeastern taking a 32-31 lead into the half.
 
The game would take a turn coming out of the halftime break as the Crimson Storm would score the first 16 points, taking a 47-32 lead over the first five minutes of the half.
 
SNU's lead would reach a game-high of 17 points twice, with the second time coming at 64-47 with 6:43 to play.
 
SE would begin chipping away with a Weeks three, eventually closing the gap to 11 points, but would still face a 14-point deficit with 2:56 remaining.
 
Sternberger would connect on a three with 2:42 to play to kick off a 16-7 run to close the deficit to 74-69 with 21 seconds to play.
 
SNU would hit free throws to push the lead back to seven points, and a Dworsky three with five seconds left would make the score 76-72.
 
The Crimson Storm would get one of two free throws and a Taylor Cox layup would close the final score to 77-74.