Southeastern Snags Rivalry Win over Tigers

ADA, Okla. – Southeastern put five players in double figures on the way to picking up a huge rivalry road victory over East Central by a score of 78-69 on Thursday night in Ada, Okla.
 
The win lifts the Savage Storm to 12-7 overall on the year and 8-3 in Great American Conference play with a Saturday afternoon matchup against Southern Nazarene next up at 3 p.m. in Bethany, Okla.
 
Jett Sternberger led the Storm offense with 15 points, hitting 3-of-5 threes on the contest and shooting 60.0 percent overall from the floor.
 
Kyle Leslie was next up with 14 points on four threes, while Kody Clouet followed right behind with 13 points.
 
Robert Briley came off the bench to chip in 11 points, nine of them in the first half, while Brennen Burns rounded out the double-digit scoring with 10 points.
 
Burns would also dish out a game-high seven assists to power the offense.
 
On the boards, Leslie pulled down a team-best eight rebounds, with Sternberger hauling in six.
 
SE would score first and over the first five minutes would push out to a 9-5 lead to open the game.
 
The Tigers would close the gap and by the 11:18 mark had taken a 14-12 lead before the Storm reeled off a 9-0 run capped by a Chandler Dickinson layup to take a 21-14 lead with 10:00 to play in the first half.
 
ECU would respond and use a 12-2 run to take a three-point lead and the teams would trade three ties and three lead changes over the final five minutes of the first half and Southeastern would take a 39-37 lead into the halftime break.
 
After the Tigers tied the game to open the second half, SE would push its lead back to five points on a Leslie three.
 
The Storm would maintain a lead until the 12:20 mark when ECU would regain a brief two-point edge before SE reeled off an 8-2 run to regain a two-possession lead by the 13:31 mark.
 
The Tigers would regain the lead with 12:01 to play but another un by the Storm, this one 7-0, would push the advantage back to 60-55 by the 9:10 mark.
 
East Central would tie the game again at 60-60, but again the Storm would answer, this time using an 11-2 run capped by a Clouet three to extend its lead to 71-62 with 2:54 to play.
 
The Southeastern edge would eventually hit 12 points on a Burns free throw with 27 seconds to play before settling on a 78-69 final margin.