Between an SE Women’s 70-46 win and Storm Men’s 64-58 loss to Cameron Wednesday, the university played host to one of its all time greats.

Southeastern’s athletics history is filled with All-Americans and Hall of Fame coaches and players. It’s also filled with stories of riding to games in station wagons and stopping on the side of the road to eat ham sandwiches and have an orange drink, with most of the thanks going to legendary Hall of Fame coach Bloomer Sullivan.

For nearly 80 years, Bloomer Sullivan’s name has been synonymous with Southeastern athletics and its legacy. On Wednesday afternoon, Southeastern dedicated its new arena — Bloomer Sullivan Arena — before a crowd of former players, community leaders, higher education officials, alumni and supporters.

And, in between the women’s and men’s doubleheader, Jerry Shipp, an NAIA and Southeastern Athletics Hall of Fame member, presented the gold medal he won for basketball at the 1964 Olympics in Tokyo.

“I want the students (at Southeastern) to know that they can do whatever they want to do,” said Shipp, who had humble beginnings in Blue, about winning the Olympic gold.

Shipp shared with the crowd of 1,039 a conversation he once had with one of his Olympic teammates, Bill Bradley.

Bradley, a Princeton graduate, a former U.S. Senator and presidential candidate, once told Shipp, “I don’t know where Southeastern is, but they sure know how to play basketball.”

Shipp, who played for the legendary Sullivan, replied: “They sure do.”

But, even with the festivities before the tip and in between, Southeastern, which was down 56-54 with 1:55 left in the game, went 3-of-6 from line and 0-2 from 3-point range down the stretch as Cameron topped the Storm in Lone Star Conference North Division play.

“We didn’t make shots, and if you don’t make free throws down the stretch, you can’t win close games,” said head coach Tony Robinson, whose team finished the season 5-22 overall and 2-10 in divisional play.

Southeastern, which was led by William Slones with 19 points and 13 rebounds, was 12-of-22 from the free throw line.

Carlin Whitten had 13 points, followed by J.R. Moody with 12 and Mychal Horn with 10 to round out double-digit scoring for Southeastern, which was 21-of-57 from the field and 12-of-22 from the free line.

The Savage Storm trailed 33-28 at the half.

The Aggies (13-13, 6-5), who finished fourth in the North, wereled by Mekalie Reed, who was 9-of-9 from the charity stripe, with a game-high 23 points.

Roosevelt Lovett had all of Cameron’s bench points with 16.

In women’s action, SE clinched the No. 2 seed in the North with its dvisioinal win. The Storm was led by Jasmine Hughey, who was 6-of-6 from the field and had 15 points.

The Savage Storm, who will make their third-straight postseason appearance and are ranked No. 5 in the NCAA South Central regional poll, will play Texas Woman’s at 7 p.m. Saturday in their final regular season game, before going to Bartlesville to face the No. 3 South seed, at noon next Wednesday.

The No. 3 South Seed will be determined Saturday.

“(Hughey) had a great game,” said fourth-year head coach Darin Grover, who got his first 20-win season.

Destiny Brown, who averages 15.5 points per game, and Ashley Tucker, who averages 10.8 points per game, were held to three and four points, respectively.

“Tucker and Brown didn’t score much, but Hughey and the bench picked up the slack,” added Grover.

The Savage Storm (20-6, 11-2) got 37 of its 70 points from the bench on Senior Night. Channing Gann, who played two seasons, and Tucker, who played four seasons, played their final home game at Bloomer Sullivan Arena. Felicia Mitchell, who has been sidelined with injury, was also honored.

“It is sad to see them go,” said Grover about his three seniors. “Tonight was a special night.”

Cameron, which was 17-of-55 from the field, was led by Tera Tremayne and Kristi Taylor with 13 apiece.

The Lady Aggies fell to 6-20 and 1-12 in divisional play.