Storm Tripped Up Late in Loss to SAU

DURANT, Okla. – Southeastern had nine players score, four of them in double-figures, but was unable to hold off a second-half charge on Thursday night in an 87-84 loss to Southern Arkansas in Bloomer Sullivan Arena.
 
The loss dips the Savage Storm to 14-7 overall and 11-5 in Great American Conference play heading into a Saturday afternoon matchup with Arkansas-Monticello at 3 p.m.
 
Kyle Leslie, Brennen Burns, and Jett Sternberger each finished with 16 points on the contest, while Kody Clouet added 10 in the effort.
 
Landon Condiff added nine off the bench, with Al Ervin chipping in seven.
 
Leslie and Ervin each dished out five assist and the Storm finished with 22 assists for the night.
 
Leslie led the team on the boards with eight rebounds, while Sternberger grabbed seven.
 
The game stood tied at 84-84 with under a minute to play following an RJ Weeks free throw with 53 seconds remaining.
 
The Storm would find itself on the wrong end of a block-charge call and SAU would take advantage of the reset to knock down a three with 23 seconds remaining.
 
SE would have two opportunities to tie the game, missing a three and having to foul to send the Mulerider to the line for a one-and-one opportunity.
 
The first free throw was off the mark and after using its timeouts strategically to get a set look at the final shot, it would be off the mark as the Storm fell 87-84.
 
Southeastern took the lead early and only pulled away throughout most of the first half, hitting a 21-6 lead at the 10:08 mark on a Clouet layup in transition.
 
SAU would rally however, using a 21-6 run to knot the game at 27-27 with 3:54 remaining in the half, but an Aaron Jacob bucket would break the tie and Southeastern would ultimately take a 40-34 lead at the break.
 
The lead would hover in the single digits before the Muleriders would finally tie the game at 52-52 with 14:00 to play.
 
SE the teams would stay within a possession until SAU took its first lead at 62-61 and held a 69-68 lead with 7:13 to play.
 
SE answered at that point and would regain the lead, pushing it out to five points, holding a 79-74 edge with 4:06 to play.
 
SAU would answer with back-to-back three to take a one-point lead and the teams would trade buckets until knotting the score at 84-84, setting up the final minute of play.