The youth-laden Southeastern men’s basketball team continued making progress during Thanksgiving week but suffered a pair of near misses in non-conference losses to Texas foes.
Coach Kelly Green’s club dropped an 85-84 heartbreaker to Texas-Permian Basin and then a 77-75 verdict against Texas A&M-Kingsville in slipping to 2-4 on the young season.
The Savage Storm jump right into the thick of Great American Conference play at home this weekend with Henderson State and Ouachita Baptist in town for the start of league action.
Southeastern led most of the game against Permian Basin, including as much as a 13-point bulge just 30 seconds into the second half, before watching that advantage slowly slip away.
Permian Basin pulled even twice but Robert Briley answered with buckets for the hosts each occasion. The visitors connected on two charity tosses with 11 seconds left to go in front for the first time since the game’s opening two minutes.
The Savage Storm had one final opportunity but missed twice on potential game-winning opportunities in the paint in the waning seconds.
Southeastern shot a blistering 59 percent from the field, including hitting eight three pointers in the first half, to build a 50-39 halftime cushion. They saw that number dwindle to 41 percent after the break and sank only two treys as Permian Basin made its comeback, cashing in a total of 46 points in the paint.
Four players tallied double figures for the Savage Storm in the loss, paced by 27 points from freshman Daniel Halldorsson, who canned 12 of 20 field goal tries as well as dishing out nine assists.
Briley pumped in 17 points and added a team-high seven board. Elijah Hughey and Landon Condiff posted 11 points apiece.
The Kingsville contest was tight throughout as the lead changed hands 12 times over the course of the two halves but 14 Southeastern turnovers resulted in 17 Javelina points which proved costly.
Southeastern trailed by seven late in the first half before getting a pair of Condiff three pointers and a Halldors- son bucket in the closing seconds to narrow the gap to 4241 at intermission.
It was a back and forth slugfest through the early stages of the second half thanks to prolific scoring from the freshmen duo of D.J. Dill and Ethan Wilkerson, eventually knotting the score at 60 with 11 minutes to play. That’s when the visitors put together an offensive flurry as the Savage Storm went scoreless for nearly five full minutes.
Down 10 with just under three minutes left, Southeastern had one final push in scoring the game’s final eight points, including the final four from Wilkerson down the stretch.
Dill finished with a teamhigh 24 points on eight of 13 shooting while Wilkerson canned seven of 12 field goal tries on the way to a seasonbest 18-point effort. Condiff ended with 11 and Hughey was just outside double figures with nine. Briley pulled down 11 rebounds and Halldorrson was credited with 12 assists.
