ADA, Okla. – After leading 48-33 at halftime, Southeastern Oklahoma State had to hold off a late second-half push from East Central to secure an 83-79 road win over its rivals in the Kerr Activities Center.
SE (6-11, 4-7) converted 61.2 percent (30-49) from the field and shot 44.4 percent from beyond the arc with eight triples, led by four from
Santiago Camacho Gomez. The Savage Storm held the edge at the glass with 28 rebounds to East Centrals 24, and both sides would finish with 11 turnovers.
Daniel Halldorsson led four players in double-digit points for the Storm with 24 on 8-of-13 shooting and paced the side with eight assists. Camacho Gomez recorded a career-high 18 points and added five assists and four rebounds, while
Robert Briley had 17 points and a team-high eight rebounds.
Chandler Dickinson rounded out the scoring with ten points and a pair of treys.
The Storm and Tigers matched each other's scoring in the opening five minutes, with the two sides tied 6-all at the first break, but the Tigers soon took an 11-6 lead after the media timeout. From there, the SE offense ran through Halldorsson, who provided the Storm its next five points, including a triple to cut the gap to two, 13-11.
The two sides continued to trade baskets, and Camacho Gomez soon found his range from deep, knocking down back-to-back triples and later converting a three-point play to push SE ahead 26-25. Two straight baskets from
Ethan Wilkerson and another from Dickinson extended SE's scoring run, and Briley would cap off the 12-0 burst with a triple to give SE a ten-point edge.
Southeastern remained hot, building a 9-0 run in the final two minutes through four points by Briley and a third three-pointer of the half from Camacho Gomez to carry a 48-33 lead into the break. SE shot 67.9 percent from the field in the first 20 minutes and 50.0 percent from beyond the arc, led by Camacho Gomez with 12 points and 11 from Halldorsson.
SE opened the scoring to start the second half, but the Tigers would see eight of the next 11 points scored, with the blue and gold leading 53-41. East Central began to dial in from deep, making three triples over the next three minutes and moments later would knock down three more treys to trim the Storm's advantage to 69-63.
Halldorsson and
Jalen Williams converted from the free-throw line to stay ahead, but Southeastern was soon under pressure from the Tigers, who were within one after a 5-0 run, 72-71. ECU tied the game 73-all, and the Storm responded with a three-pointer by Camacho Gomez and a layup from Briley to help SE go back in front 78-75. Halldorsson would ice the game with five points in the final forty seconds to hold onto the 83-79 win.
Southeastern (6-11, 4-7) heads to Bethany, Okla. for its next round of action at Southern Nazarene on Saturday at 3 p.m. as the Savage Storm look to even the season series.
