Storm Tripped Up at Home by Harding 70-65

DURANT, Okla. – Southeastern was unable to complete the comeback on Saturday afternoon, falling short at home to Harding in the second meeting, 70-65.
 
The Savage Storm rained down 11 triples across the 40 minutes and finished with a 42.3 percent clip from beyond the arc, while converting 46.2 percent from the field. The Bisons held the edge with 35 rebounds to SE's 26, including 14 offensive boards.
 
Chandler Dickinson was one of four players to score in double-digits with a team-high 18 points on 6-of-10 shooting. Additionally, Dickinson paced the team with eight rebounds, while Augusto Toledo pulled down five. Ethan Wilkerson chipped in 14 points, and Deondre Dunn added 12 and three blocks. Santiago Camacho Gomez rounded out the scoring with ten points and a team-high five assists.
 
Southeastern (8-18, 7-13 GAC) is back on the court on Thursday, Feb. 26, at 7:30 p.m. for its final home game of the season against Southern Nazarene.
 
SE was off to a flying start in the opening five minutes of the first half, racing out to a 12-3 lead behind six points from Wilkerson and three-pointers by Dunn and Dickinson. After Southeastern's fast start, the Bisons found their footing and cut the Storm's edge down to six, 16-10. SE answered back with three-pointers by Dunn and Ethan Scott to stretch the lead back to double figures.
 
The Southeastern offense ran through Dickinson over the next two minutes, as the Rockwall, Texas native tallied five unanswered points to give SE its largest lead of the half, 27-15. However, Harding reeled off eight straight points to slash the Storm's edge to 27-20, and later took the lead on a second 8-0 run. Dunn would reply with a buzzer-beater triple in the final seconds of the half to flip the advantage back to Southeastern, 33-31.
 
The momentum stayed with the blue and gold to start the second half, with SE adding to its lead with four points by Wilkerson and a triple from Camacho Gomez, 40-34. A three-pointer from Toledo kept the Storm in front, but the Bisons soon had all the energy, stringing together a 13-2 run over the next four and a half minutes to go ahead 53-47. Southeastern stopped the bleeding with a basket from Camacho Gomez and a free-throw from Dickinson to make it a one-possession game with 8:29 left, 53-50.
 
Harding continued to score in bunches with a 6-0 run to extend its lead to 59-50 and later 64-56. During this stretch, SE let it fly from beyond the arc, with Camacho Gomez, Scott and Dickinson each knocking down triples. Dickinson remained the hot hand for the Storm, scoring SE's next six points to bring Harding's lead down to 68-65. However, Southeastern's charge would end here, as HU closed out the game at the foul line, 70-65.