SE Athletics
Matt Thomas, Sports Information Director
WEATHERFORD – Southeastern put four players in double figures, led by a career-high 26 points from Bobby Johnson, but it was not enough to power to a win in a high-scoring 93-85 loss at Southwestern Oklahoma State in Weatherford, Okla., on Saturday afternoon.
The loss drops the Savage Storm to 0-2 to start the year and in Great American Conference Western Divison play heading into a rivalry Monday matchup with East Central at 7:30 p.m. on Jan. 11 in Bloomer Sullivan Arena.
“We got out battled for the ball a bunch,” said head coach Kelly Green, “They drove it on us and when they drove it on us they won the battle on the glass. It started out in the second half. We had a couple of costly turnovers to start the half and those things just can’t happen. We’ve got a very inexperienced team and with Kellen [Manek] gone we just got more inexperienced. We had opportunities because they missed shots late and they just went and whipped us and got the ball.”
“You’ve got to step to the line and make free throws,” he continued. “You work hard to get to the line you have to make those when you get there.”
Johnson connected on 9-of-20 from the flor overall and 6-of-15 from beyond the arc to finish with a game-high and career-best 26 points.
Adam Dworsky picked up the scoring in the second half and finished with 17 points on 50.0 percent shooting, while Vadim Clanet added 11 points and RJ Weeks chipped in 10. All eight players who saw the court scored for the Storm.
Dworsky picked up his first double-double of the season, this time on the boar4d with 10 rebounds to go with his 17 points and also finished the game with a game-high six assists.
SE shot 44.9 percent for the contest overall and 37.1 percent from beyond the arc while hitting 13 threes, but struggled mightily at the line again, finishing 10-for-21.
After the Bulldogs got on the board first SE would finally take its first lead of the contest at the 17:44 mark on a pair of Johnson free throws at 8-7.
SWOSU would regain the lead and the Storm would keep playing catch up until the 14:15 mark on a Markeith Williams jumper to take a 17-16 lead.
SE would eventually take its largest lead of the half at the 9:54 mark as threes by Vadim Clanet and Johnson would twice give the Storm a three-point lead, the last at 31-28.
The teams would remain tied or within one possession until SWOSU scored the final six points of the contest to leave SE trailing 48-42 at the half.
The Bulldogs scored the first six points of the second half off turnovers and doubled its lead to 12 points before a Johnson three at the 16:55 mark finally ended the run.
It would start a run for the Storm who would whittle the 12-point deficit away completely with a 14-2 run that was capped by a Johnson fastbreak to tie the game at 56-56.
A pair of Johnson shots would give the Storm leads of one point and two points later in the half, and a Markeith Williams three point play with 11:19 to go would put the Storm ahead 64-63.
SWOSU would regain the lead and SE would tie the game four times over the next five minutes, the last time at 73-73 before a 14-3 Bulldog run from the 5:57 mark until just under a minute to play would push the home team lead to 87-76 before the Storm cut the deficit back to single digits for the final score of 94-85.
