SE Meets ATU and HU in Final Arkansas Trip

DURANT, Okla. – Southeastern Oklahoma State looks to get back in the win column when it makes its final trip to the Natural State on Friday and Sunday to take on Arkansas Tech and Harding.
 
SE first heads to Russellville to square off with the Wonder Boys on Friday, Feb. 21 at 7:30 p.m. before heading to Searcy to face the Bisons on Sunday at 3 p.m.
 
STORM WATCH
The Savage Storm's win streak ended on Saturday as the blue and gold fell to Southwestern Oklahoma State 85-75. SE had extended its streak of wins to three earlier in the week, taking down rivals East Central 92-65. After last week's round of conference action, Southeastern is 7-11 in the league standings and 9-15 overall.
 
The loss to SWOSU dropped the Storm back into a tie for ninth with ECU, and Southern Arkansas now has a one-game advantage in eighth after going 2-0 last week. With four games remaining, three teams have already clinched a spot to the conference tournament in Southern Nazarene, Oklahoma Baptist and Ouachita Baptist.   
 
Defensively, Southeastern has produced the third most blocks this season in the GAC, thanks to 18 from Robert Briley and 16 by Ethan Wilkerson. Both Birley and Wilkerson rank in the Top 15 individually with 0.8 and 0.7 blocks per game, respectively. Earlier this season, Briley recorded a career-high four blocks in game one versus Southwestern Oklahoma State and has four multi-block contests. As a unit, SE has denied 67 shots this season and averages 2.79 blocks per game.
 
The scoring continues to run through Landon Condiff and Chandler Dickinson, who recorded double-digit point games in both contests. Condiff tallied a career-high 26 points versus ECU and followed with 14 against SWOSU, while Dickinson chipped in 17 and 15 points in the two games. Since the turn of the new year, Dickinson has quickly seen his points totals rise, as the Rockwall, Texas native went from averaging 2.5 points per game to now seeing 7.2 a contest.
 
Arkansas Tech got the better of Southeastern in the first meeting this season, defeating the Storm 76-64 in the Bloomer Sullivan Arena. The Wonder Boys lead the series 23-18, having won two of the last three games, and have given the blue and gold problems in Russellville with seven wins in the last 11 contests. Southeastern is 2-3 in its previous five trips to the Tucker Coliseum.
 
Southeastern dominated the first meeting with Harding, racing past them 94-58 behind 25 points from DJ Dill. The win over the Bisons made it four in a row for the Storm, who lead the all-time series 16-12 going into the 29^th meeting. SE has seen mixed results in Searcy, with a 5-6 record in the most recent games, but has won two straight games in the Rhodes-Reaves Field House, scoring 100 points in both contests.
 
PREVIEWING ARKANSAS TECH
The Wonder Boys come into Friday's game with a similar overall record of 9-15 with Southeastern and are one game back of SE in the league standings at 6-12. Arkansas Tech has hit a rough sport recently, having lost five straight games after going 0-2 last week to Harding and Ouachita Baptist. ATU dropped a close game to the Bisons 63-61 and later fell 68-62 to the Tigers to wrap up the week.
 
Senior guard Cassius Brooks ranks fifth in scoring in the GAC with a team-high 18.9 points per game on 38.2 percent shooting and paces the side with 34 triples. Brooks has tallied 20 points in three of his last four games and has nine 20-point contests total for the year, including a season-high 32 versus Northwestern Oklahoma State. At the glass, Seybian Sims averages a team-high 7.6 rebounds per game and ranks second in steals for ATU with 34 takeaways.
 
PREVIEWING HARDING
Harding split its most recent round of games with a win over Arkansas Tech and a loss to Southern Arkansas, bringing them to 15-9 overall and 11-7 in the GAC. With four games left, the Bisons are fourth in the league standings, one game behind Ouachita Baptist and a game ahead of Henderson State in fifth place.
 
Leading the charge for the Bisons is junior guard Keyln McBride, who paces the side with 15.6 points per game and has dished out 111 assists. McBride is one of four players scoring in double-figures for HU, with Sam Smith seeing 15.5 points a contest, shooting a high clip from the floor at 58.6 percent. Harding is one of the best three-point shooting teams in the league, converting at a 38.1 percent mark with a conference-high 237 treys, led by 51 triples from McBride.