SE Sees Lead Slip Away Late in Road Loss

WEATHERFORD, Okla. – Despite a double-digit halftime and 22 points from Kody Clouet, Southeastern was unable to hold on down the stretch as Southwestern Oklahoma State would rally to take Saturday afternoon's matchup 75-74 in Weatherford, Okla.
 
The loss drops SE to 5-5 on the season overall and 1-1 to open Great American Conference play, while SWOSU improves to 1-5 on the season and 1-1 in GAC play.
 
"Offensively we were just atrocious in the second half," said head coach Kelly Green. "We started running isolation basketball which I don't have any idea where we came up with that. Just trying to throw the ball to a post guy and let him hold the ball with everybody standing on the perimeter and watch our post guy try to back somebody in, to no avail. We did it with player after player. When we moved the ball. When we came down the floor and just reversed it side to side, a couple times we ran a couple little sets to get it moved, but then we would just come to a stop. They do a good job of flooding to the side with the ball."
 
Clouet would finish the afternoon 6-of-10 overall and 4-of-5 from beyond the arc to put up 22 points and lead the Storm offense.
 
Brennen Burns was right behind with 19 on the contest on 7-of-12 shooting, including hitting both threes he took.
 
Landon Condiff was just short of double-digits with nine off the bench on a trio of threes, while Robert Briley and Kyle Leslie added eight apiece.
 
Jett Sternberger would lead the team on the board with six, while Clouet pulled down five rebounds.
 
Burns would lead all players in assists, dishing out six of the Storm's 12 helpers.
 
Burns would drain a three to open the game and the Storm would outscore SWOSU 21-8 over the first eight and a half minutes, hitting 8-of-14 overall and 4-of-8 from three over that span.
 
The Bulldogs answered with a 14-5 run over the next 5:02, closing the SE lead to 26-22 with 6:17 to play in the half.
 
Southeastern bounced back as a pair of Clouet free throws would kick off a 17-3 run for the Storm over the next 4:31, with Clouet scoring 10 of those points to push the Storm lead to 18 points before settling on a 43-27 lead at the half.
 
The Storm lead would tick up to 18 points early in the second half on a Burns layup before SWOSU would begin chipping away.
 
SE would keep its lead in double-figures until the 13:22 mark as the Bulldogs would use an 11-0 run to cut the Storm lead to 53-47 with 12:07 remaining.
 
Southeastern would stall that rally, keeping the team at arms reach over the next six minutes, holding a 66-59 lead following a Clouet three with 5:54 to play.
 
SWOSU would respond to that with seven-straight points to tie the game at 66-66.
 
A pair of Burns free throws would put the Storm back in front, but SWOSU would connect on a jumper with 3:13 remaining to take its first lead in the second half.
 
Briley would provide an answer to regain the lead for SE, but it was short lived as the Bulldogs would regain the lead.
 
Southeastern would take its final lead on a Burns three-point play with 39 seconds to play, but MJ Warrior would connect on two free throws with five seconds to play and the Storm were unable to convert on a buzzer beater, falling 75-74.