East Central men hold off late Southeastern surge
Feb. 15—DURANT — The East Central University men's basketball team held off a late rally by archrival Southeastern and defeated the Savage Storm 69-63 Monday night inside the Bloomer Sullivan Arena.
The win snapped Southeastern's three-game win streak against ECU and the Tigers held the Savage Storm to its lowest score of the season.
ECU improves to 14-10 overall and 9-9 in Great American Conference play, while Southeastern dropped to 15-8 and 12-6.
"Our guys gave great effort and played for each other," ECU men's head coach Daniel Wheeler said. "That was a lot of fun to watch. I'm really proud of them."
East Central led by as many as 10 early in the second half and was still ahead 56-47 after a basket inside by Romello Wilbert at the 6:28 mark.
Southeastern climbed back into the game and after a short jumper by Brennen Burns, the hosts had got within 65-63 with 1:19 left.
SOSU got the ball back with a chance to tie or take the lead after an offensive foul by the Tigers, but Burns missed the front end of a 1-and-1 opportunity.
After a defensive stop by the Savage Storm, the Tigers got a steal and basket by Luke Harper that put ECU ahead 67-63 with 18 seconds left.
Robert Briley missed a late 3-pointer for the home team and Harper came down with the rebound, was fouled and iced the game with two free throws with five seconds left.
Barron Tanner, Jr. opened up the scoring with a layup before Southeastern answered back with a couple of buckets to lead 5-4. But the Tigers quickly responded with a 12-2 run and never trailed again.
The Savage Storm tried to chip away at the Tiger's lead and was able to cut it back to single digits before the break, but ECU still held on to a seven-point advantage at halftime, 32-25.
Three Tigers scored in double-figures — Wilbert, Godsgift Ezedinma, and Keyon Thomas.
Wilbert led the way for ECU with 14 points, going 7-for-12 from the floor.
Ezedinma was close behind with 13 points, shooting 6-of-15 from the field while adding a team-high seven boards.
Thomas was next with 10 points, going 3-for-9 overall and grabbing six rebounds.
Burns finished 7-of-12 from the field and scored 17 points to pace Southeastern. Kody Clouet followed with 11 points and grabbed eight rebounds. The Savage Storm finished 3-of-23 from 3-point territory. The Tigers made 5-of-19 shots from long distance.
The ECU men's basketball team will continue its road stretch with a trip to Arkansas for a pair of GAC matchups against Ouachita Baptist and Henderson State University on Thursday and Saturday.
