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The last few moments of Southeast’s 67-64 home loss to Southwestern Community College on Saturday, Nov. 22, provided what Head Coach Joel Wooton and his team has been feeling about the season so far.

Frustration.

SCC had the ball at half court and trailed 65-64 with 28 seconds left. Londell Stephens tried to find Rakeem Hicks at the low post, but the ball was swatted away, and a scramble on the court ensued for the loose ball. The officials eventually gave possession to Southwestern after a lengthy conference.

Wooton disagreed with the referee’s decision to give possession to the Spartans.

“The call that was made right in front of us should have either been a jump ball or a travel,” Wooton explained. “If he had possession as the official said he did, when he rolled, that was a travel; if he didn’t have control, (it was) a jump ball.”

Southwestern was able to inbound the pass and get a dunk with 1.9 seconds left. A three point shot at the buzzer was well short, and the Storm lost their second game in a row.

The loss dropped SCC’s record to 4-4. The team has struggled with chemistry issues this season and is still trying to fit all the proverbial pieces together. Wooton called a recent 76-48 loss at Johnson County one of the “most humbling” of his coaching career.

The coach thought his team took enough steps forward to beat a team he thought was better than Johnson County, but the Storm continue to catch bad breaks at inopportune times.

“How many times did Southwestern free throws bounce in off the back of the rim or backboard? How many times did we play good defense (with the ball) bouncing around in scramble situations, and it bounces back to the opponent for an easy basket?” Wooton asked rhetorically.

Wooton was encouraged by the performance of Rakeem Hicks, who came off the bench to score 16 points, including 7-8 from the free throw line.

“He just needs to be more consistent,” the coach added.

Altez Davis chipped in 11 points, grabbed nine rebounds and dished out four assists.

“Tez is one of our most consistent players, (but) we need others to step up,” Wooton said.