SE Men's Hoops Downs ECU In OT

Southeastern seniors Steven Kohli and Chris Roussell each posted 20-point outings as Southeastern survived a scare on senior night, defeating East Central 74-73 in overtime on Thursday night in Bloomer Sullivan Arena.

The win lifts the Savage Storm to 15-10 overall and 11-8 in Great American Conference play heading into the regular season finale at Harding at 4 p.m. on Saturday afternoon.

Kohli posted season bests in points and rebounds, turning in a monster double-double with 23 points and 16 rebounds to lead the game in both categories.

Roussell followed suit with his sixth 20-point outing of the season, finishing the evening with 21 points. He also rounded out his sixth double-double with 12 rebounds.

Andris Misters chipped in 11 points to round out the double-digit scorers.

Quinton Threadgill and Roussell each dished out six assists on the night.

The Storm trailed 38-26 at halftime, but recovered in the second half to lead by four points with 1:02 to play, but ECU would get a three from Braxton Reeves to tie the game at 63-63.

SE would come out and score the first four points in overtime and never trail.

ECU would close the gap to one point with 51 seconds left, but a Misters' layup with 16 seconds left would make the score 73-70.

Misters would then pull in a rebound of a missed three on the other end with seven seconds to play and sink one of two free throws to make the lead four points. ECU would tack on a meaningless three at the buzzer to fashion the final of 74-73.

The Tigers scored the game's first five points, and after SE closed the early deficit to 11-8 on a Treadgill free throw, ECU answered by running its lead out to double figures at 21-10 with 12:05 to play in the half.

Southeastern would again close the gap, this time cutting it to 25-20 on a Roussell three with 6:16 to play in the half, but the Tigers would again answer, running out to its largest lead of the half at 37-23 with 1:14 to play in the half.

The Storm would go to the locker room trailing by a 38-26 margin.

ECU pushed the lead back to 14 out of the gate in the second half and would lead by double digits until a James Harris three with 10:17 to play in regulation keyed an 8-1 run that closed the gap to 53-50 with 7:07 to play.

The teams would trade buckets at that point, but the SE rally was on with a pair of Roussell freebies closing the gap to one point and less than a minute later a Threagill layup would put the Storm in front for the first time in the contest at 57-56.

A Threadgill free throw with 1:02 on the clock extended the Southeastern lead to four points, but a Reeves three for ECU would make it a 61-60 game with 24 seconds left.

Harris would then connects on a breakaway layup on the ensuing in-bounds play to put SE up three, but Reeves would again connect from long range for ECU to tie the game at 63-63 with seven seconds left.

Roussell would get a final look, but the shot was off the mark to end regulation.

A pair of Threadgill free throws followed by a pair of Roussell free throws would stake the Storm to a 67-63 lead out of the gate in overtime.

That lead would grow as large as six points, but ECU answer with a Gregory Ardister bucket and another Reeves three to cut the Storm lead to one point with 51 second to play.

Misters Would then connect on a layup with 16 seconds to play on the offensive end and come up with the big rebound on the defensive end while drawing a foul to head to the charity stripe with a 73-70 lead with four seconds left.

He would hit the first to make the game a two-possession contest and after missing the second, ECU's Fisher connected on a three at the buzzer to set the final at 74-73.