DURANT, Okla. – Southeastern struggled to get the offense going in the second half against Southwestern Oklahoma State, suffering a 74-62 defeat to the Bulldogs inside Bloomer Sullivan Arena.
The Savage Storm shot 37.3 percent from the field and were just 3-16 from the three-point line, and were led in scoring by
Ethan Wilkerson with 16 points. Wilkerson would pace SE with nine rebounds, as the team had 36 outrebounding the Bulldogs by one.
Chandler Dickinson chipped in 13 points on 4-of-8 shooting, while
Deondre Dunn tallied 10 points and eight rebounds.
Southeastern (3-8, 2-3 GAC) returns to the court after the new year, as it travels to Bethany, Okla., to battle No. 3 Southern Nazarene on Saturday, Jan. 3 at 3 p.m.
SWOSU opened the first half with a 4-0 advantage, and the Storm would get things going through a
Santiago Camacho Gomez layup that was followed by a triple from Dunn and three points from Wilkerson, tied at 8-all. Wilkerson remained the hot hand for the blue and gold over the next minute of play, recording four more points on a 6-0 run to give SE a 14-10 edge. However, the Bulldogs answered back with a 10-2 flurry to flip the lead back in their favor, 20-16.
Southeastern chipped into the SWOSU lead through
Nnachebe Uwakwe and Dunn, as the pair combined for the next nine points for SE to tie it 25-25 at the 7:28 media break. SE and SWOSU remained tied at 28-all, but a charge from the Bulldogs gave them a 35-28 lead with three and a half minutes left in the half. Southwestern connected on back-to-back three-pointers to stretch its advantage to double-figures, and the visitors held a 43-32 lead at halftime.
Wilkerson got the final 20 minutes going with an early three-pointer, but the two sides would match each other in scoring with SWOSU continuing to hold a ten-point lead, 50-40. The Bulldogs' lead remained the same over the next four minutes, with the Storm trailing 54-44, and the visitors picked up the pace again, leading 60-44. Dickinson would provide the blue and gold with five points over its next few possessions, down 65-51.
The Storm continued to battle, building an 8-0 run to close the gap under double-digit points for the first time since the first half, 69-61. However, the Bulldogs answered with a three-pointer with 2:22 remaining, and the blue and gold's late push would fall short, 74-62.
