Box Score

BETHANY, Okla. — Somehow, someway Southern Nazarene continues to show that it just keeps getting stronger and stronger with each passing day. The 18^th-ranked Crimson Storm opened the Sooner Athletic Conference season with a 78-72 win over Mid-America Christian and did it without its leading scorer.
 
Daniel White entered the night averaging 19.4 points a game, but played just 13 minutes before going down with an ankle injury in the first half. Despite trailing for a majority of the first and early in the second, SNU filled in the missing space to score the win.
 
“There were several stretches tonight that we could have put our heads down and pouted about something and led a 15-second bad spurt turn into a 1:30 stretch,” said SNU Head Coach Adam Bohac. “But I thought we stayed the course and fought through some adversity losing Dan for the second half. He's kind of the heartbeat for us and sets the tone in so many ways.”
 
The Storm (5-1, 1-0 SAC) won their fifth straight game and got a career-high 32 points off the bench from Ryan who went 11-for-17 from the field and 4-for-7 from 3-point range. The junior transfer scored 25 in the second half on 9-of-12 shooting from the floor and had all four treys in the final 20 minutes. He was also 6-for-8 from the free-throw line.
 
“I thought he was great off the bench again,” said Bohac. “He brings good energy and he's growing into a good defender. The Lord blessed him with outstanding physical tools and he can turn into an outstanding defender. He brought a spark tonight.”
 
Jon West nearly had a double-double with 15 points and nine rebounds while Horace McGloster notched his third double-double of the season with 10 points and 11 boards. He also dished out six assists. Tyrone Lyons also added eight points and 10 rebounds off of the bench.
 
While SNU lost the turnover battle, 19-16, the Storm turned MACU's gaffs into 25 points and also drilled the Evangels on the boards, 42-31.
 
MACU lead by as much as seven in the first half, before SNU cut it to 35-32 at the break. The Storm tied it on the first shot of the second half and Aaron started to take over the second half. The Evangels built a 40-35 lead early in the second half, before Aaron scored the first six points in a 13-0 run as SNU jumped out to a 48-40 lead with 15 left to play.
 
MACU cut it to 48-44 and were down 54-48 with 11:01 left when Aaron scored five straight to give the Storm their biggest lead of the game at 59-48 with 10:16 left. SNU led 70-61 with 5:45 remaining when the Evangels went on an 11-3 run to get within one with less than two minutes left, but SNU hit five of its last six free throws to put the game away.
 
The Storm will now get set to play at Oklahoma City, Saturday, for a 5 p.m. SAC contest.