DURANT, Okla. – Southeastern Oklahoma State looks to keep the momentum going and extend its win streak on Thursday and Saturday when they face East Central and Southwestern Oklahoma State.
SE starts the week with a home rivalry game at 7:30 p.m. against East Central on Thursday, Feb. 13, before they hit the road to take on SWOSU at 3 p.m. on Saturday.
STORM WATCH
After picking up back-to-back wins over Arkansas-Monticello and Southern Arkansas, Southeastern (8-14, 6-10) moved into a tie for eighth in the GAC standings with six games remaining in the regular season. The Storm enter a pivotal stretch, with East Central being one of four teams tied with SE for eighth and Southwestern Oklahoma State holding a one-game advantage in seventh, as the blue and gold look to secure a spot at the 2024-25 GAC Tournament.
Helping SE to two wins over UAM and SAU were
Landon Condiff and
Chandler Dickinson. The pair rattled off 33 points each across the two games and shot over 50.0 percent from the floor. Condiff tallied a high of 21 points for the week versus the Muleriders, while Dickinson scored 16 points against the Weevils and 17 versus Southern Arkansas. The duo have gone for double-digit points in three straight games, with Condiff averaging 12.2 points per game and Dickinson seeing 6.4 a contest.
Robert Briley continues to be one of the top rebounders in the conference, pulling down 18 rebounds last week, including 12 in the win over SAU. The Wright City, Okla. native ranks fourth in the GAC in rebounds per game with 7.1 and is one of four players for the Storm scoring in double figures with 10.8 points per game.
Southeastern averages 77.7 points per game and ranks in the top five in the GAC in field goal percentage and three-point shooting. The Storm are converting at 46.5 percent clip from the floor and hold a 34.8 percent shooting mark from deep while averaging 8.1 triples per game. The blue and gold also tied a season-high 20 free throws made versus SAU and have knocked down 283 foul shots this season.
SE has a chance to complete the season sweep against East Central on Thursday night for the second time in two seasons. Southeastern defeated ECU 83-79 in the 191
st meeting to take the lead in the all-time series 96-95. The Storm, who have been at their best at home this season, are 3-2 versus the Tigers in the last three meetings in Bloomer Sullivan and have lost two of the previous three contests.
The Storm meets Southwestern Oklahoma State on Saturday in the second matchup of the season after falling 74-68 in the first meeting. Southeastern has not been swept in the season series by the Bulldogs since 2016, but the Storm has one win in the last three meetings. Earlier this season,
DJ Dill led the scoring with 19 points in game one, and Briley tallied a double-double with 12 points and 10 rebounds.
PREVIEWING EAST CENTRAL
East Central heads into Thursday off back-to-back wins, defeating Southern Arkansas 72-62 and Arkansas-Monticello 76-66 to improve to 6-10 in the GAC and 9-13 overall. The Tigers returned to winning ways last week after four straight defeats before the victory over SAU. The Tigers have struggled away from home this season, with a 1-6 record as the visiting team, and their last win away from home coming in January versus Arkansas Tech.
Nikk Williams leads the Tigers in scoring with 13.4 points per game and helps lead a team that averages 71.9 points a contest. ECU is shooting 46.0 percent from the field and 32.9 percent from beyond the arc and averages 7.6 triples per game. Williams also paces the team at the glass with 6.9 rebounds an outing and totaled 17 in East Central's two wins last week.
PREVIEWING SOUTHWESTERN OKLAHOMA STATE
Like East Central, the Bulldogs snapped a four-game losing streak last time, picking up wins over Ouachita Baptist and Henderson State. After the two wins, SWOSU sits alone in seventh in the league standings at 7-9 and holds a 10-11 overall mark. Southwestern Oklahoma State is at its best in the Pioneer Event Center, having won eight of ten games at home, which is tied for the second-best home record this season in the conference.
SWOSU's leading scorer, Tobias Roland, ranks inside the Top 15 in the GAC with 13.7 points per game and is joined by two more players in double-digit points. Among those is MJ Warrior, who is seeing 11.7 points per contest and leads the team in assists at 5.2 per game for 110 total assists. The Bulldogs will test the Storm's three-point shooting, as SWOSU has the third-best three-point defense in the conference, holding teams to 32.1 percent shooting from deep.
