RUSSELLVILLE, Ark. – Southeastern concluded its road trip in the natural state with a 77-62 defeat to Arkansas Tech on Saturday afternoon in Tucker Coliseum.
The Savage Storm converted just 18 field goals for the game on 29.5 percent shooting, and 12 of those would come at the three-point line, where they shot 31.6 percent for the game.
Ethan Scott led SE with 14 points on 4-9 shooting from beyond the arc, while
Santiago Camacho Gomez and
Deondre Dunn had 11 and 10, respectively.
Southeastern (4-12, 3-7 GAC) remains on the road with a trip to Ada on Thursday, Jan. 22, at 7:30 p.m. to meet rivals East Central for the first time this season.
The Storm were limited offensively in the opening three and a half minutes of the first half, allowing Arkansas Tech to take an 8-2 lead. SE continued to try to find its footing in the half, but was held to two baskets over the next five minutes after Camacho Gomez and Scott each knocked down a three-pointer. During this stretch, the Wonder Boys added to their lead with the gap growing to 26-8.
Scott soon found the basket again from deep to spark a run of points for the blue and gold to trim the ATU edge to 29-16. However, the hosts answered back with a 7-0 flurry, before the Strom replied with back-to-back triples from
Jamal Drewery and Camacho Gomez to close out the half, down 36-22.
The two sides matched each other in scoring to begin the final 20 minutes, with Dunn and Drewery connecting from deep to cut into the gap. Not long after, Gomez knocked down a triple on a 5-0 run, and soon after Scott scored two more treys to make it 59-45. SE continued to lean on the three-ball as they battled back with Augusto Toeldo making the sixth three-pointer of the half, down 69-56.
From there, Southeastern would build a 6-0 run, featuring five points from Dunn to slash the Wonder Boys' advantage under double-figures, 71-62. However, the Arkansas Tech defense tightened up down the stretch, holding the blue and gold scoreless in the final two minutes to hold off the late rally.
