DURANT, Okla. – Bobby Johnson and Vadim Clanet each cracked the 20-point mark while Kellen Manek turned in a double-double to help lead fourth-seeded Southeastern to an 82-56 win over No. 5-seed Southwestern Oklahoma State on Monday night in Bloomer Sullivan Arena.
The win lifts the Savage Storm to 8-10 on the season and moves them into a quarterfinal matchup against the East Division's top seed Arkansas-Monticello on March 3 at 7:30 p.m. in Monticello, Ark.
The Bulldogs slip to 7-11 in their final action of the season.
"Making shots makes you play harder on defense," said head coach Kelley Green. "What we did a good job of is not turning the ball over excessively and leading them to transition baskets. We did a good job of getting back in transition and keeping them in front of us and making it difficult for them to drive. You probably heard Ryan say 'stay tight' or 'get tight' and we just wanted to be tight on the perimeter with our defense so that they couldn't drive gaps. Make them try to do things from the outside."
"We were playing with energy," said Kellen Manek. "Playing with effort. And it really gets us going when we can play well on the defensive end and turn that into offense. Turn that into easy baskets on the offensive end, that's when we're at our best."
"It's no secret I've been struggling a little bit to hit shots," said Adam Dworsky. "It was nice to see the first one go in. But more than anything it was about going out there and competing."
"I looked over at Coach Green," said Bobby Johnson and he was kind of 'don't shoot,' and I was like oh man. I'm always ready to shoot. I got a guy like Adam driving the paint. Kellen's down there passing the ball out. So it's kind of easy for me to stay in the corner and hit shots."
Johnson paced all scorers on the night with 22 points on a 7-of-12 shooting effort that included a 5-of-8 mark from beyond the arc.
He was joined in the 20-point club by Clanet who turned in 20 exactly on a 7-of-13 performance with six threes.
Manek posted his second double-double of the season, turning in 15 points while pulling down a career-high 15 rebounds.
Dworsky rounded out the double-digit scoring for the Storm with 15 points while adding a game-high six assists and chipping in six rebounds and four steals.
Damion Thornton turned in 19 points to lead the Bulldogs, hitting 9-of-18, and added a team-best seven boards, while Kamden Gipson put up 14 points off the bench.
The Storm finished the night shooting 51.0 percent overall from the field and 50.0 percent on 16-of-32 from three-point range, while defensively holding SWOSU to a 31.0 percent effort and a 26.5 percent mark from long range.
Dworsky and Clanet combined for 27 first-half points, hitting 9-of-12 overall and 7-of-9 from three-point range combined.
For the Bulldogs, the first half was all Damion Thornton who turned in 17 points over the first 20 minutes on 8-of-15 shooting.
It was a Johnson three that opened scoring for the Storm, answering a Thornton bucket that opened the game.
SWOSU would reel off eight of the next 11 points, capped by a Jaylan Williams three to take an early 10-6 lead at the 15:28 mark.
SE would chip away, tying the game twice before another pair back-to-back buckets put the Bulldogs back in front 21-16 with 10:18 to play in the half.
The lead was still four points with 8:27 to go when Johnson connected on a free throw and triggered a 12-0 run capped by his own three-point play to take a 31-23 lead with 5:44 to go in the first.
SWOSU would cut that in half with buckets from Thornton and Knight, but the Storm would roll off a 13-4 run over the final 3:08, with Clanet draining a three with 28 seconds to play in the half that gave Southeastern a 44-31 lead at the break.
Johnson would turn in 15 points over the second half, hitting 4-of-4 from beyond the arc, while SE would outscore the Bulldogs 38-25 in the frame.
SE opened the second half with the first eight points, six of them belonging to Johnson, to push its lead out to 52-31 by the 15:29 mark of the half.
That lead would stretch to 23 points before back-to-back threes form Gipson would trim the Storm lead to 17 points with 13:29 to play.
That was as close as the game would get as SE answered with buckets form Manek and Clanet top push the lead back beyond 20 points.
It would reach as many as 26 points three times over the final 2:41, the final time on a Jaxon Ingram layup with 30 seconds left which fashioned the final score of 82-56.
SWOSU Recap