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BETHANY, Okla. — There was a reason that the Sooner Athletic Conference opener between No. 2 Southern Nazarene and No. 6 Oklahoma Baptist was being hyped and the start of the conference season lived up to the billing as OBU knocked off SNU, 89-86, inside the Sawyer Center.

The Crimson Storm (5-2, 0-1 SAC) never could overtake the Bison (5-2, 1-0 SAC) in the second half after an early run by OBU. SNU was never out of reach though as the Bison only led by double figures for a short stretch before the Storm closed quickly in the final minutes.

OBU probably felt like they couldn't miss the entire game as it shot 57.1 percent from the field and became the first team to outscore the Storm in paint this season at 42-34. The only thing that the Bison missed were free throws and that nearly caught up to them as SNU began to chip away at the lead.

The Bison led 78-66 with 6:01 left to play, but SNU cut to 79-72 with a 6-1 run with 4:47 left. OBU pushed it back out to an 83-74 lead with 3:35 left, but Horace McGloster brought the Storm right back into it as he scored seven points in a 10-1 run as SNU cut it to 85-84 with 43 seconds left. OBU added two more free throws before a Xavier Alexander dunk made it 87-86 with just nine seconds remaining. The Bison added two more from the charity stripe before a last second heave from McGloster missed and hit the backboard just above the rim as the horn sounded.

McGloster scored a season-high 24 points and notched a double-double with a season-high 10 rebounds. The junior went 9-for-15 from the field and hit a trio of 3-pointers. #A.J Thomas# was nearly perfect from the field as he went 6-for-7 and hit all four 3-pointers he attempted, scoring a season-high 20 points. Alexander added 19 points and four rebounds as both he and Thomas dished out a team-high four assists. Jeremy Lightfoot was also in double figures with 10 points.

SNU shot 50 percent (29-58) from the field and from beyond the arc as well going 8-for-16.

The Bison had the hot hand in the first half firing 15-for-26 from the field as preseason All-American Kevin Swinton had 12 points and finished with a game-high 27. After SNU used an 11-5 run to take a 16-15 lead, OBU answered with seven straight to take a 22-16 lead midway through the half. The Bison took their biggest lead of the half at 29-21 with 7:21 left, but the Storm cut the lead to 38-36 with 56 seconds left on a Shane Callaghan bucket to cap a 15-9 run. Maurice Foster added another two with 42 seconds left as the Bison took a 40-36 lead at halftime.

The Crimson storm hit the road Saturday as they travel to St. Gregory's for an 8 p.m. SAC contest.