DURANT, Okla. – Southeastern Oklahoma State hits the final stretch of the year as they close out the regular season with Oklahoma Baptist and Northwestern Oklahoma State.
The Savage Storm will host OBU on Senior Night on Thursday, Feb. 27, at 7:30 p.m., and SE will honor
Robert Briley and
Landon Condiff in between the women's and men's games. On Saturday, SE heads to Alva for a regular season finale with the Rangers on at 3 p.m. from the Percefull Fieldhouse.
STORM WATCH
After splitting games against Arkansas Tech and Harding, Southeastern (10-16, 8-12) is in ninth place in the GAC standings, one game behind Southern Arkansas in eighth. Looking to secure a spot in the conference tournament, SE will need to win its final two games and have Southern Arkansas lose one or both of its last games. Additionally, SE can also jump NWOSU with the tiebreak if the Rangers go 0-2 and the Storm go 2-0.
Since moving into the starter role on Jan. 16 versus Harding at home,
Chandler Dickinson has started the last 12 games. During this stretch, the Rockwall, Texas native leads the team in scoring with 13.3 points per game and has recorded seven straight double-digit point contests, including two 20-point outings against Henderson State and Arkansas Tech. This season, Dickinson averages 8.1 points per game and shoots at a 45.6 percent clip from the field and a 35.3 percent mark from deep.
Providing a one-two punch with Dickinson is
Landon Condiff, who leads the team with 12.9 points per game. Condiff has seen three 20-point games in his last five outings and had a seven-game streak with double-digit point games snapped recently versus Harding.
Robert Briley has also been a staple of the Storm's scoring, averaging 10.8 points per game. In addition, Briley paces the Storm at the glass with 7.3 rebounds per game and leads the side with 19 blocks.
Southeastern fell to Oklahoma Baptist in the first meeting this season in Shawnee 97-66. The win for OBU makes it two in a row over the Storm, as they lead the all-time series 107-59. However, SE, who is just 5-6 on the road versus the Bison, is 8-1 at home in the last nine matchups and has won the last three games in Bloomer Sullivan Arena. The two sides have played each other evenly as of late, with a 5-5 record in the last ten meetings.
Northwestern Oklahoma State got the better of the Storm earlier this season in an 84-81 overtime win. SE had a pair of 20-point scorers in that game in Condiff and
DJ Dill, but the Rangers would outscore the blue and gold 12-to-9 in the overtime period. Heading into the 55
th meeting, Southeastern holds a slight edge in the series 28-26.
PREVIEWING OKLAHOMA BAPTIST
Coming into the week at 16-10 overall and 13-7 in the GAC, the Bison have lost its last two games, falling on the road to Henderson State and Ouachita Baptist. The Pair of losses snapped a three-game win streak for Oklahoma Baptist that included an upset win over then No. 12 Southern Nazarene at home.
OBU enters the week as the top rebounding team in the conference, with 37.9 boards per game. The Bison's Nathan Wilson leads the side at the glass, averaging 7.9 rebounds per game, and is one of six players for OBU with 8.0 or more points per contest. Terry Coner Jr. paces the side in scoring with 15.9 points and tops the team in assists with 79 this season.
PREVIEWING NORTHWESTERN OKLAHOMA STATE
Northwestern is one of three teams battling it out for the final two spots in the GAC Tournament and face Southern Nazarene before hosting SE. The Rangers won last time out, defeating Arkansas-Monticello, which ended NWOSU's four-game streak of losses. The win over UAM improved the Rangers to 10-10 in conference play and 13-13 overall.
The Rangers have the top-scoring duo in the league, spearheaded by Camron McDowell, who leads the GAC with 26.7 points per game – third most in Division II – and 69 three-pointers. McDowell, in his last six games, has four 30-point games, including 39 against Ouachita Baptist. Helping pull the strings on offense is Max Alexander, with a team-high 118 assists, and is third in the GAC in scoring with 20.3 points per game.
