SE Falls in Thanksgiving Classic Finale

ODESSA, Texas – Southeastern had a trio of double-digit scorers but was unable to keep pace offensively as host Texas-Permian Basin pulled away to hand the Savage storm a 104-74 loss on Saturday afternoon at the Walk Ons Thanksgiving Classic in Odessa, Texas.
 
The loss ends the three-game winning streak for SE and drops it to 4-4 on the season heading into a Nov. 30 Great American Conference opener versus Southern Nazarene at 7:30 p.m. in Bloomer Sullivan Arena.
 
Landon Condiff stepped into the starting lineup for Jett Sternberger who did not play in the contest and put up a team-high 14 points, with all four field goals coming from beyond the arc.
 
Kyle Leslie was right behind with 13 points, going 5-for-9 overall with a trio of threes.
 
Robert Briley would turn in double-figures off the bench for a second-straight outing, finishing with 10 points.
 
Kody Clouet just missed double digits with nine points while handing out a team-best four assists.
 
Enzo Silveira led the way on the board with six rebounds, while Leslie and Briley hauled in five apiece.
 
The SE offense shot 42.1 percent for the game, but saw the Falcons hit 54.2 percent overall, shooting 50.0 percent or better in each half.
 
The Storm were also plagued by a turnover discrepancy, committing 17 to UTPB's seven as well as struggling on the boards, losing the rebounding battle 46-to-30.
 
The teams traded buckets early, exchanging the lead a handful pf times over the first four minutes before a 9-0 UTPB run would leave the Storm trailing 17-10 by the 14:00 mark.
 
That deficit would reach 13 points by the 8:49 mark before SE mounted a 10-2 run capped by a Leslie jumper to close the gap to 30-25 with 5:51 to play in the half.
 
The Falcons responded and push its lead back to 17 points, but Southeastern would trim that deficit to 50-38 at the half with Clouet draining a three in the final seconds.
 
Early in the second half, Southeastern would close the gap to 57-50 on a Condiff three in transition, but would see UTPB respond to that with a 12-0 run to take a 19-point lead by the 14:18 mark of the second half.
 
The Storm was unable to close the gap over the remainder of the second half as the Falcons would pull away to hand SE a 104-74 loss.