Cook sets GAC scoring mark in loss

Southeastern's Anton Cook. Photo by Dan Hoke.

SE Sports
Matt Thomas, Sports Information Director

ARKADELPHIA, Ark. – Southeastern’s Anton Cook broke the Great American Conference record for points in a game with a 46 point effort, but it was not enough to lift the Savage Storm to a win as they fell at Henderson State 87-85 on Thursday night in Arkadelphia, Ark.

The loss drops the Savage Storm to 8-12 overall and 4-10 in GAC play heading into a Saturday afternoon contest with Ouachita Baptist at 3 p.m.

Cook’s impressive performance is the most points scored in the Division II era, with the next closest mark being a 36 point effort posted by Taylor Smaller in 2015. His 46 points climbs into a tie with Dennis Rodman for the third most points in a single game, matching a 46 point effort by Rodman in the final game of his career in 1986.

Only two SE legends have higher single game totals as Jerry Shipp owns the record with a 52 point performance in 1957, while Rodman turned in a 51 point outing in 1985.

Cook put together his outing by connecting on 13-of-20 shots from the field and nailing a very efficient 8-of-11 from three point range. He also added a 12-of-13 effort from the free throw line.

He finished out the night adding four rebounds and three assists while accounting for just over half of the Storm’s points.

Kevin Buckingham was the only other player in double-digits with 12 points, while Jett Jobe just missed the mark and finished with nine.

Jobe dished out seven assists to trigger the offense however, and as a team SE was on fire shooting, hitting 51.0 percent from the field and connecting on 66.7 percent of their threes, finishing 14-of-21 from long range. The team also finished with a 19-of-21 mark from the charity stripe.

Tyler Lonzie led the way on the boards for the storm with seven, while Cook’s four was next in line.

The difference proved to be turnovers were SE committed 22 across from HSU’s 10 which led to a discrepancy of 31-13 in points off turnovers in favor of the Reddies.

Southeastern led for 23:51 of the contest and kept the score tied for another 10:00, climbing out to a lead as large as 15 points in the first half on a Bobby Johnson jumper with 5:39 to go in the half to take a 33-18 lead.

However, that lead would disappear in the midst of a 20-3 run which put SE down in the final seconds, but a Nathan Jackson layup with six seconds to play in the first half sent it to the break tied at 38-38.

The teams traded the advantage early, but a Johnson three would put SE up 49-47 with 15:02 to play and they would hold with the exception of a 20 second span until the Reddies regained the lead with under five minutes to play.

That deficit would grow as large as five points, but the Storm would narrow it back to one point on a pair of Jobe free throws to make it 86-85 with 11 seconds to play.

HSU would go 1-of-2 at the line on its trip with nine seconds to play and SE would get one final shot but it was off the mark, sealing its 87-85 loss.

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