DURANT, Okla. – Southeastern overcame a rough shooting first half and a seven-point halftime deficit to pull away with a 74-61 win over Arkansas-Fort Smith in Bloomer Sullivan Arena on Saturday night to stay undefeated on the season.
The Savage Storm moves to 3-0 on the year as it wraps up a three-game home stand to open the year and will now hit the road for a return matchup with Union in Jackson, Tenn., on Nov. 20 at 7 p.m.
SE got a big night out of Steven Kohli as he turned in 19 points to pace four players to reach double-figures on the contest for SE. He finished 7-of-12 from the field with a three pointer.
It truly was a tale of two halves for the Storm offense who struggled to a 34.3 percent shooting performance in the first half that included a 1-of-7 effort from behind the three point line.
That changed significantly in the second half as SE hit 48.3 percent from the field and picked up the pace from long range with a 5-of-8 shooting performance from three.
James Harris came off the bench to turn in his second-straight double-digit performance with 13 points, matching the 13 point effort from Andris Misters.
Chris Roussell kept the Storm streak of double-digit performances alive with 12 points and 11 rebounds.
His 11 rebounds led all players on the board for the night, while Mateus Oliveira chipped in eight boards and Andis Malahovskis added seven.
Southeastern finished with a 45-to-37 advantage on the glass.
Travis Timmons extended his double-digit assists streak to three games with a 10 assist outing, but saw his double-double streak come to an end as he only scored four points on the night.
UAFS got out to the early lead and never trailed in the first half, twice stretching its advantage out to 13 points, with the last of those coming with 1:37 remaining in the half.
A pair of jumpers from Roussell and a James Harris three-pointer would cut that deficit to six points before a Lion free throw with 14 seconds left would fashion the 39-32 UAFS lead at halftime.
A 9-3 SE run opened the second half and left the Storm trailing 42-41 at the 17:31 mark of the second half.
The teams would go cold for the next 3:26 until a Timmons layup would give the Storm its first lead of the contest at 42-41.
The Lions would answer with a three pointer, but a Kohli layup would knot the score at 45-45 with 13:16 to play.
That would be followed by threes from Misters and Kohli to put the Storm up six with 10:53 remaining.
UAFS would trim that lead back down to two points before SE would use a 12-2 run to mount a 65-53 lead after a Misters fast break layup with 6:02 on the clock.
The lead would never get below double-digits as the Storm would hold on for a 74-61 win.
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