DURANT, Okla. – The Southeastern men's basketball program falls late in its season opener to Minot State, 78-76, in the first game of the GAC/NSIC Conference Challenge.
The Savage Storm shot 40.0 percent (26-65) from the field and finished the game 10-35 from beyond the arc, and made 14 free throws. MSU won the battle at the glass, edging out the blue and gold 46- to-45.
Santiago Camacho Gomez led the scoring for SE with 15 points on 5-of-9 shooting from the field and was 4-7 from beyond the arc. Three more players joined in double-figure points, as
Ethan Wilkerson chipped in 14, while
Saxon McWilliam and
Augusto Toledo had 12 and 10, respectively. At the glass,
Chandler Dickinson paced the side with nine rebounds and added eight points to his totals.
An early three-pointer by Long helped set the tone for the Storm, and moments later, Toledo would connect for his collegiate basket, sinking a triple to give SE a 9-6 edge. The blue and gold attacked the basket from up close with a pair of layups, but were soon tied 14-all with the Beavers. From there, the two sides traded baskets and a third three-pointer of the half for the Storm, this time from Gomez, made it 21-16.
Over the next four minutes, SE and MSU matched each other point-for-point with the blue and gold holding a 29-24 lead. However, a minute-and-a-half scoring drought by SE allowed the visitors to cut into the gap and take the lead 31-29, forcing a timeout from Southeastern. Out of the break, Gomez sank his second triple of the half and was followed not long after by a second trey from Long to trim the MSU advantage to two. Gomez would knock down his third trey in the final minute of the half to give SE a 40-37 lead at the break.
Gomez and Wilkerson led the Storm in the first half with nine points each, while Dickinson pulled down four rebounds. The blue and gold shot 45.2 percent from the field and had six threes on 37.5 percent shooting.
Minot State controlled the opening minutes of the second half, allowing them to tie the game 44-44 in the first three and a half minutes. Southeastern found its range again from deep with
Deondre Dunn and Toledo connecting on three-pointers to flip the score back in favor of the Storm 51-46. The pace of the game picked up over the next three minutes, and McWilliam would score a pair of baskets to help the Storm to a 56-53 lead.
Southeastern kept on the front foot through Gomez and Dickinson, who sank back-to-back triples to extend its gap to 62-56. Minot State began to find its range from deep, rattling off two triples in quick succession to close the deficit to one and soon took the lead, 73-72. SE would score the final two baskets of the game, but were unable to overcome the Beavers' lead, 78-76.
