Box Score

ST. CHARLES, Mo. — Southern Nazarene had a lot of hype surrounding the team and there are no doubt high expectations for the Crimson Storm. Well on Friday night, SNU finally got to step on the floor and put on an impressive performance with an 84-56 win over Lindenwood-Belleville (Ill.) at the Texas Roadhouse Classic.

The Crimson Storm (1-0) had four players in double figures and 14 of the 15 players that played recorded at least two points. Preseason All-American, Xavier Alexander nearly had a perfect night as the senior missed just one shot all night, going 6-for-7 from the floor and was 6-of-7 from the charity stripe. He scored a team-high 18 points and tied for a team-high with three assists. Newcomer #C.J. Henry was right behind Alexander with 17 points while A.J. Thomas# notched 13. Both Henry and Thomas each dished out three assists.

Jon West also scored 11 points off the bench on 5-of-7 shooting from the field. Horace McGloster was nearly in double figures in rebounds with nine and added four points.

The Crimson Storm dominated the paint scoring nearly half of their points in the lane. SNU outscored the Lynx 40-18 in the paint and also picked up 27 points off of 18 LU-B turnovers. Despite turning the ball over 19 times, SNU gave up just 18 points off turnovers. The Storm bench also outscored the Lynx, 26-15.

SNU shot 56.4 percent (31-55) from the field for the night and shot 64.3 percent (18-28) in the second half. The Storm were also 6-for-21 from 3-point range. Southern Nazarene also went 16-for-22 from the free-throw line. SNU held LU-B to just 31.7 percent from the field on 19-for-60 shooting and 4-for-20 from beyond the arc.

SNU never trailed and held the Lynx to just one bucket in the first eight minutes of the game as the Storm raced out to a 22-2 lead. LU-B didn't come closer than 14 in the half and that was after SNU took its biggest lead of the first at 32-7 with 6:51 left in the half. The Lynx cut it to 34-20 with 2:14 remaining, but SNU hit three free throws to close out the half with a 37-20 lead.

SNU quickly took it out to a 50-25 lead on a Henry trey early in the second half, didn't get over that 25-point mark until late in the game. LU-B got as close at 62-46 with 7:40 left, but SNU put it away with a 14-4 run to lead 76-50 with 3:50 left. The Storm didn't take their biggest lead of the game until the final bucket when Shawn Seymour hit a layup with 1:07 left.

The Storm will take on host No. 14 Lindenwood (Mo.) tomorrow at 8 p.m.