SE Meets Harding in the Opening Round of the GAC Tournament

DURANT, Okla. – Southeastern faces No. 3 seed Harding in the first round of the Great American Conference Tournament at the Northside Arena in Fort Smith, Ark., on Friday, March 6, at 2:15 p.m.
 
SERIES NOTES

• Southeastern and Harding are set for their first matchup at the GAC Tournament, as the Bisons are one of two teams SE has not faced at the conference tournament. The Storm holds the edge in the all-time series 19-15, but will be looking to correct a three-game losing streak to the Bisons. This season marked the first time since 2015-16 that SE was swept in the regular season by HU.

 
STORM REPORT
Southeastern punched its ticket to the GAC Tournament after a 68-63 road win over Southwestern Oklahoma State. The Savage Storm ended the regular season with four wins in their last seven games to finish 9-19 overall and 8-14 in the conference standings. The win over the Bulldogs propelled the blue and gold all the way to sixth in the final GAC standings.
 
A large part of the Storm's late-season success starts with their defense. Through the first 17 games of the year, opponents were averaging 82.2 points against SE, but things would change in the final 11 contests, as Southeastern has allowed just 66.4 points per game. During this stretch, the Storm have averaged 4.1 steals per game, led by Santiago Camacho Gomez with 11 takeaways, and he leads the team with 32 steals this season.
 
On the other end of the court, Southeastern is led in scoring by Chandler Dickinson and Ethan Wilkerson. Dickinson paces the side in scoring with 13.5 points per game on 45.9 percent shooting from the field, while Wilkerson is chipping in 12.3 points on an efficient 50.9 percent clip on the floor. Southeastern ranks ninth in scoring offense with 68.9 points per game and is eighth in field goal percentage with a 43.4 percent shooting clip.
 
SE has remained one of the top three-point shooting teams in the GAC season, ranking third with a 33.6 percent mark from deep and second in three-pointers per game with 8.8. Leading the efforts at the perimeter is Deondre Dunn with 50 triples on 38.8 percent shooting. Dunn, in his last four games, has knocked down 13 triples, helping him to two 20-point games. The Watonga, Okla. native is averaging 9.0 points per game, and has 12 double-digit point games this season.
 
SCOUTING HARDING
Harding enters the GAC Tournament on an eight-game win streak, and carries a 21-7 overall record and a 17-5 conference mark. The Bisons' efforts this season earned them the 3 seed, tying their regular-season finish from last year, which is the highest Harding has ended the year since 2015-16 when they won the league with a 17-5 GAC record. This season also marks back-to-back 20-win seasons by HU.
 
The Bisons are led by Keyln McBride, who leads the team in scoring with 14.2 points per game and is second in the GAC with 133 assists. McBride is one of three players averaging double-digit points, while Reggie Webster is seeing 13.0, and Wesley Booker is averaging 11.1 points per game. In addition, Booker is HU's top rebounder with 222 boards this season (6.9 rpg), and he leads the team with 42 blocks and 29 steals. The trio's efforts see HU rank second in the conference in both scoring (74.4 ppg) and rebounding (37.6 rpg).