Box Score

BETHANY — If not for a late first half run by Southern Nazarene, the home opener for the Crimson Storm might have been a little closer than a 77-62 win over Avila (Mo.).

With 10 minutes left in the first half, the Crimson Storm (3-0) led 13-11 before a Jeremy Lightfoot layup ignited a 20-3 run that was caped by a Jon West two as SNU took its biggest lead of the game at 33-14 with 3:21 left in the half.

That run gave SNU enough cushion as Avila went shot-for-shot with the Storm in the second half.

The Eagles closed it to 36-24 at halftime and stayed within striking distance through most of the second half. Avila cut it to six three times with the final coming at 58-52 with 7:36 left to play. It was Lightfoot again who started a run with a bucket as SNU scored eight straight to take a 66-52 lead, but the Eagles got it down to single digits again with 2:48 left to play at 71-62.

That was as close as Avila came as SNU closed out the game by scoring the final six points.

Xavier Alexander led the way for the Storm with 17 points on 5-for-10 shooting from the field and 7-for-11 shooting from the free-throw line. Alexander also grabbed six boards. Lightfoot was right behind with 14 points and needed just one more rebound for a double-double with nine. #C.J. Henry# added 11 points and five boards.

After SNU held the Eagles to just a 34.6 percentage performance from the field in the first half, Avila fired 16-for-36 from the field in the second half. The Eagles were identical from downtown in each half going 6-for-13 in each half and 12-for-26 overall from beyond the arc.

SNU went 27-for-57 from the field and struggled from 3-point range going just 4-for-20. SNU did get to the charity stripe 24 times, hitting 19 of those attempts.

The Crimson Storm also gave up the ball 21 times matching Avila's turnover count.

SNU returns to action Tuesday when they travel to Central Oklahoma for an exhibition.