SE Athletics
Matt Thomas
ALAMOSA, Colo. – Four Southeastern players reached double-figures, led by 22 points from Kyle Leslie as the Savage Storm shot 49.2 percent as a team and forced 20 turnovers in an 86-77 win over Adams State in Alamosa, Colo., on Saturday night.
Sports presented by Indian Nation Wholesale.
SE improved to 2-2 on the season over all and will be back on the floor on Nov. 30 when it opens conference play in Bethany, Okla., with a 7:30 p.m. matchup with Southern Nazarene.
Leslie finished the night shooting 9-of-17 overall and 4-of-9 from beyond the arc to post a game-high 22 points.
Jett Sternberger was next in line with 19 points on 6-of-11 shooting, while Kody Clouet connected on four threes on his way to an 18-point outing.
RJ Weeks turned in 10 points to round out the SE players in double-figures, while Brennen Burns was just short with eight points.
Clouet would wrap up a double-double by pulling down a game-high 10 rebounds, with Sternberger next up with five boards.
Weeks and Burns each dished out five assists as SE would hand out 16 as a team.
Burns also snagged a team-best three steals as the Storm grabbed 11 as a team.
ASU scored first and the teams traded buckets in the early going, but Southeastern would put together a 14-2 run capped by a Leslie three with 13:54 to play in the first half to take a 21-10 lead.
After the Grizzlies closed the gap slightly the Storm would again put together a run, this time a 12-0 run capped by a Weeks fastbreak dunk to take a 35-18 lead with 8:55 to play in the half.
ASU would get the gap to single digits inside the final five minutes of the half, but a strong Storm finish would give them a 48-37 lead at the half.
That strong finish did not carry over as the Grizzlies would score the first 12 points of the second half to take a brief lead.
A Leslie three would answer the run, and the teams would tie the score twice after that, the last time coming at 56-56 with 13:12 to play.
SE would put together a 12-2 run capped by a Clouet jumper to go ahead 68-58 with 8:5 remaining.
The Storm lead would grow to 12 points before ASU would begin chipping away, eventually closing the deficit to 75-70 with 5:46 remaining.
A Leslie layup would answer that run and SE would push the lead back to 10 points on a Clouet three with 4:18 to play.
The Storm defense would step up and ASU would connect on two field goals over the final four minutes while Sternberger would secure the win with a 4-for-4 effort at the free throw line in the final 41 seconds to preserve an 86-77 win.