SE Athletics
Matt Thomas, Sports Information Director
DURANT – Southeastern put all five starters in double-figures and hit 11 threes, pulling away in the second half for a 90-66 win over Oklahoma Christian in the home opener on Saturday night in Bloomer Sullivan Arena.
Sports presented by Indian Nation Wholesale.
The win lifts the Savage Storm to 2-0 to open the season heading into the Great American Conference opener on Nov. 21 when they host Oklahoma Baptist at 5:30 p.m.
“I didn’t think that we defended as well as we should have in the first half,” head coach Darin Grover said. “I thought they got to the basket way too much on us, so there’s the negative out of the way and we can hopefully clean some of that stuff up.”
“The positives,” he continued, “I thought we did a great job of moving the ball. They really get out and pressure you. We moved the ball, we drove it, we found the open people.”
Katie Webb and Briley Moon led SE with 16 points apiece, with Moon knocking down 4-of-5 threes and hitting 5-of-7 from the floor overall.
Kamryn Cantwell followed with 14, while Chandler Kemp was a perfect 6-for-6 to put up 13 points.
Logan Oestreich added 10 points to round out the starters, while Jordan Benson chipped in seven points off the bench and Haiden Williams added six.
Cantwell dished out a team-high six assist, while Webb added four and as a team SE finished with 23.
Benson and Cantwell pulled down six rebounds each to lead the Storm, while Neely Noel added five.
Moon also turned in a five steal effort, while Kemp added three and the Storm swiped 12 on the contest, finishing the night with 19 points off turnovers.
The game was back-and-forth early and stayed close despite the Storm jumping in front.
SE was able to stretch its lead to seven on a Webb jumper with 33 seconds to go in the first, but OC would cut that edge to 25-20 at the break.
The advantage would grow no larger than seven points in the second quarter, but the Eagles were unable to get any closer than two points and a Williams free throw with 0.5 seconds left would give SE a 44-39 lead at the half.
Southeastern scored the first four points of the second half and stretched its lead to nine points early after layups from Cantwell and Kemp.
It would stretch to 11 points at the 5:54 mark on a Cantwell three.
OC would cut the Storm lead down to three points by the 3:21 mark, but a Williams three would trigger a 10-0 run capped by a Noel three to take a 66-53 lead after three quarters
The lead would never dip to single digits again as SE shot 53.3 percent from the floor in the fourth quarter to pull away for the 90-66 victory.
