DURANT, Okla. — The breaks were unkind to Henderson State on Thursday night as the Reddies fell to Southeastern Oklahoma State 81-79 in overtime at Bloomer Sullivan Arena in the NCAA DII Showcase Game of the Week.

Henderson trailed by a point at the break, but put together its biggest run of the game to begin the second half. After shooting 31.4% in the first, the Reddies hit five of their first eight shots out of the locker room to jump out to their largest lead of the game, 39-31, at the 15:31 mark.

The Savage Storm responded with a run of their own and out-scored HSU 18-9 over the next five minutes to retake the lead, 49-48, with 10:15 to go. The next 10 minutes were a battle between two GAC heavyweights, as the momentum swung back and forth in a tight contest.

With the Reddies leading 66-64 and 2:30 remaining, SOSU's Kevin Buckingham hit a 3-pointer to give the Storm their first lead in nearly eight minutes, 67-66. Henderson surged back in front 69-67 in the final seconds after free throws from Chris Parker, Rel Johnson and Mike Fofana, but each of them also missed at least one in their trips to the line, which left the door cracked for Southeastern. 

Down by two with under 10 seconds remaining, the Storm's Adam Dworsky drove to the basket and drew a foul call with 0.2 seconds to go. Dworsky, who missed a pivotal free throw down the stretch in the team's first meeting in January, calmly knocked down both to send the game to overtime.

The lead changed hands six times in the extra period, but Southeastern was able to gain the upper hand, 78-75, after four-straight free throws from Dworsky with 41 seconds left. Needing a big play, Quawn Marshall went to the basket and completed a driving layup with a foul to earn a chance to tie the game with 32 seconds on the clock. Marshall's free throw was pure to tie it, however, HSU was called for an extremely rare lane violation at the top of the key. The violation negated the tying shot and left the score at 78-77.

The Reddies continued to fight despite the bad break, and after a 1-for-2 trip at the line from SOSU, Marshall again went to the basket for a lay-in and this time did tie the contest at 79-79 with 20 seconds remaining. Another foul on HSU with 8.6 seconds sent Southeastern back to the line where the Storm went ahead 81-79 after making both free throws. 

Needing another basket to stay alive, Henderson went back to Marshall again, who drove to the rim and had the ball knocked away with 2.8 seconds left. However, after video review, it was determined that Marshall had touched the ball last which gave possession back over to SOSU. 

On the ensuing inbounds pass chaos ensued, as HSU tipped and stole the pass and then hit a miracle 3-pointer at the buzzer. Once again, however, the video replay ruled against the Reddies, who did not get the shot off in time and fell 81-79.

Henderson had four players in double figures and was led by Raekwon Rogers, who finished with 17 points and nine rebounds. The Reddies held SOSU to 36.9% shooting but were called for 12 more fouls on the night than the Savage Storm and shot 15 less free throws.

HSU will play its final game of the regular season on Saturday at 3 p.m. when it travels to East Central.