SE Athletics
Matt Thomas
SHAWNEE, Okla. – Brennen Burns led a trio of 20-point scorers as Southeastern held off a late charge by Southern Arkansas to survive and advance with a 94-86 win in the quarterfinals of the Great American Conference Tournament at FireLake Arena in Shawnee, Okla.
Sports presented by Indian Nation Wholesale.
The win lifts the Savage Storm to 23-8 on the season and advances them to the semifinals where they will face the winner between fourth-seeded Southern Nazarene and fifth-seeded Arkansas-Monticello in a noon contest on Saturday, March 9.
Burns would go 7-of-13 from the floor and 9-of-10 from the free throw line on his way to a team-high 24 points while dishing out five assists and grabbing three steals.
Kody Clouet would hit 4-of-7 from beyond the arc and 8-of-12 overall on his way to 21 points on the night while leading the team with six assists and grabbing five rebounds.
Jett Sternberger rounded out the 20-point scorers with 20 points on the back of five threes while also grabbing five rebounds.
Kyle Leslie and Robert Briley would also reach double figures as each scored 11 points on the contest.
Briley would also pull down a team-high eight rebounds and snag three steals.
The Storm would shoot 50.0 percent overall and hit 46.2 percent from long range in the first half, while the overall shooting in the second half dipped to 48.3 percent, while they matched the 6-of-13 effort from three-point range in the second half.
After giving up the first five points of the game, the Storm would get the offense moving as a Chandler Dickinson layup would kick off a 12-0 run that was capped by back-to-back Burns jumpers that saw SE take a 12-5 lead by the 13:10 mark of the half.
SAU would answer with six of the next nine points, closing the Storm advantage to 15-14 with 10:43 to go in the first half.
A pair of Briley layups would bookend a Condiff three, and the Storm lead would stretch back to double digits at 22-11 with 9:29 remaining.
The teams would trade short runs over the next seven minutes, with the Muleriders closing to within eight points with 2:41 to play in the half.
A Clouet three-point-play would kick off an 8-2 run, capped by a Briley rebound and Burns conversion on the other end, all with under five seconds to play, beating the buzzer and giving Southeastern a 45-31 lead at the halftime break.
SE would score the first five points of the second half, to take a 19-point lead early but the Muleriders would close that gap to 14 points by the 17:01 mark.
The Storm responded with a 13-4 run that included a trio of Clouet threes and stretched the SE lead out to 65-42 with 14:17 to play.
Southern Arkansas reeled off eight-straight points over the next 2:02, narrowing the lead to 15 points, but SE again bounced back with five-straight to again push the lead to 20 points at 70-50 with 11:14 to play.
A 12-4 Mulerider run would whittle the Storm lead to 12 points, but a quick 6-2 run in response would put SE back in front 80-64 with 6:31 remaining.
SAU would make one more push, reeling off a 13-2 run in just under four minutes to close the Storm lead to its narrowest margin in the second half at five points, 82-77 with 2:42 to play.
The teams would trade buckets and the lead remained at five with 1:26 to play when Sternberger knocked down a key three-pointer from the corner, putting the Storm up 87-79.
The Muleriders would once more close the gap to five points, this time with 42 seconds to play, but a Burns bucket on the fastbreak would give SE a three-possession lead and a 3-for-4 effort from the free throw line over the final 25 seconds would preserve a 94-86 victory.