Coach Kelly Green’s Southeastern men’s basketball team snapped a three-game losing skid to start the season on Saturday with a 78-69 road victory at Texas A&M-Kingsville.
The win forged a split of the south Texas road trip last week which saw the Savage Storm fall at St. Mary’s University, 74-64.
A strong first half against the Javelinas in Kingsville spurred the Savage Storm to a 40-28 lead at intermission which they never relinquished.
It was a slim 22-21 Southeastern advantage with seven minutes left in the half when Green’s troops went on a 14-2 run to take control. Augusto Toledo canned a three pointer and Deondre Dunn followed with two from long range to ignite the massive flurry. A Toledo tip-in and another trey capped the decisive charge that eclipsed three minutes off the clock.
Toledo’s third three pointer with 14 seconds remaining in the half extended the margin back to 40-28 at the break.
Kingsville eventually closed to within 63-61 with 5:38 left in the contest but Dunn immediately drilled a long-range bomb, layup and another trey during a personal eight-point scoring burst that put the lead out of reach in double figures.
Dunn finished the night a scorching six for nine on three-point attempts on the way to a team-best 25 points. Toledo added four treys and season-best 14 points.
Southeastern picked up solid balance with eight points from Chandler Dickinson, seven apiece by Ethan Wilkerson and Saxon Mc-William as well as Santiago Camacho Gomez and Jamal Drewery adding six each. Wilkerson ripped down 10 rebounds and dished out five assists.
The Savage Storm dug a 32-21 halftime deficit in the St. Mary’s contest as they managed just 33 percent shooting from the field while hosts connected on 47 percent.
Wilkerson’s three pointer just over three minutes into the second half capped a 10-2 Southeastern run that narrowed the gap to three points, but that was as close as it would get.
Green’s club hit seven second half three pointers and 12 for the game to stay within striking distance but they were outrebounded 41-24 and were walloped by a 42-22 count in points in the paint.
Four players tied for Southeastern scoring honors with Camacho Gomez and Ethan Scott pitching in 12 points while Wilkerson and McWilliam contributed 11 each.
Next on the schedule for the Savage Storm is the SNU Conference Challenge this weekend at Bethany where they will meet Rogers State and Cameron.
