Oklahoma City outscored Southeastern 37-11 over the final 12 minutes to turn a one-point deficit for the Savage Storm into a 73-46 loss at the hand of the Stars on Monday night in Oklahoma City in the first of SE’s three exhibition games.
The Storm will face two more in-state NAIA powers, taking on Oklahoma Baptist on tonight at 7 p.m. in Shawnee followed by a Nov. 13 matchup with Rogers State at 4 p.m. in Claremore.
Southeastern is coming off a 10-17 season in 2009-10, while OCU was 17-10 last season.
Newcomer Jamell Cormier led SE with 10 points while also dishing out a game-high five assists.
Josh Delfino picked up a team-best seven rebounds off the bench, while Urald King and Chris Roussell each chipped in six. King also added a pair of blocked shots.
The Storm struggled with turnovers, giving up the ball 21 times, while OCU had just 14.
It was also not a great shooting night for SE as they shot 34.7 percent from the field for the contest, but only 8.3 percent from three-point range. The free throw line wasn’t very kind on the evening either as the Storm shooters hit 11-of-20 freebies for a 55 percent output.
The contest was back-and-forth early, with SE controlling the tempo and holding leads up until the midway point of the first half, with the last coming at 10-8 with just over 10 minutes to play in the first.
OCU would begin to pull away slightly and take a 26-17 advantage into the locker room.
In a repeat of a common occurrence last season, SE used the beginning of the second half to whittle away the Star lead, and with 12:09 to play in the game, Cormier converted a three-point play to narrow the deficit to 36-35.
That was as close as it would get as a pair of free throws and a bucket pushed the lead to four points and kick started a 37-11 scoring run for OCU in the second half of the second half that proved to be SE’s downfall..