Southeastern hit its first 17 shots after halftime inside the three-point arc and poured in a season-best 109 points but it still wasn’t enough to offset the longrange bombing of Cameron in a wild 111-109 double overtime loss Saturday night in Bethany.
The contest was the second for the Savage Storm in the SNU Conference Challenge series and final non-conference contest for Coach Kelly Green’s squad heading into an Arkansas road trip to Henderson State and Ouachita Baptist this weekend. Southeastern is slated to be back home Wednesday night against Northwestern back in the friendly confines of Bloomer Sullivan Arena.
In the Cameron defeat, the Savage Storm got off to a solid offensive start that included eight first half treys in a back-and-forth opening 20 minutes that saw the Aggies snag a narrow 41-40 lead at intermission as they sank eight three pointers of their own.
The second half was a net scorching performance that saw seven different Southeastern players get in on the shooting barrage. The problem however proved to be Cameron’s prowess at the charity stripe where the Aggies connected on 15 of 20 free throws in addition to six more three pointers to keep the Savage Storm from taking control.
A three pointer from Santiago Camacho Gomez gave Southeastern its biggest lead at 88-86 with 1:16 remaining before Cameron rallied to knot things at 90 with 13 seconds left. Chander Dickinson’s three-point game winning try was off the mark as the horn sounded to force overtime.
Cameron looked like it might have things in hand leading by four with under a minute to play in the extra period when Ethan Scott drained a three pointer at the 48-second mark and Dickinson connected for a trey in the waning seconds that tied it to force the second OT.
Trailing by four points midway through the second session, Ethan Wilkerson narrowed the gap for Southeastern with a conventional three-point play and a pair of Dickinson free throws with 34 seconds to go put the Savage Storm in front.
The Aggies had the final answer however on their 16th trey of the game with eight seconds remaining for what finished as the game winner.
Seven players scored in double digits for the balanced Savage Storm attack led by Deondre Dunn’s 20 points on seven of 10 shooting. Dickinson pitched in 17 points and seven rebounds, Camacho Gomez had 16 points and seven boards as well.
Scott tallied 15 points, Nnachebe Uwakwe scored 14, Wilkerson notched 11 with Jamal Drewery adding 10 points and 10 assists for a double-double.
In the opening matchup of the Conference Challenge, Southeastern fell to Rogers State by an 83-65 count as the Savage Storm couldn’t overcome a cold start despite 10 second half three pointers.
Augusto Toledo connected for five of the treys and wrapped up with a team-best 16 points as Scott added four three pointers and 14 points.
Dunn checked in with 11 points, Camacho Gomez had 10 with Wilkerson contributing four points and a teamleading 11 rebounds.
