Box Score

BETHANY, Okla. — Xavier Alexander scored a game-high 18 points and added six rebounds for No. 12 Southern Nazarene in a 69-66 loss to Lubbock Christian.

The loss ends a nine-game home winning streak for the Crimson Storm (19-5, 12-4 SAC) inside the Sawyer Center.

“I thought Lubbock was the aggressor for the larger portion of the game,” said SNU head coach Adam Bohac. “Especially there in the first half, they beat us to several loose balls and were playing with more purpose than we were on the offensive end. They are a talented team and they put some personnel groupings that made it tough on us defensively.”

After the Chaparrals (14-8, 9-7 SAC) used a 9-2 run to take a 14-10 lead with 12:39 left in the first half, LCU held off every SNU charge to pull off the upset.

SNU trailed as much as 10 in the first half before the Chaps took a 35-27 lead into the break. LCU took its biggest lead of the game right out of the gate in the second half with Matt Read completed a traditional 3-point play to put LCU up 38-27. The Storm cut it to three twice before A.J. Thomas hit a free throw to make it 55-53 with 5:12 to play. Lubbock pushed it back to a six-point lead at 63-57, but the Storm answered with a 7-2 run, capped by a pair of C.J. Henry free throws, to make it a 65-64 game with 52 seconds left.

Kenny Hewitt hit a jumper with 22 seconds on the clock to keep it at a 3-point game before Alexander went up strong to the goal and hit a quick two, but couldn't draw a foul call, as SNU trailed just 67-66 with three seconds left. LCU though was able to throw the ball the length of the court and Rashad Sample hit a layup at the buzzer to end the game.

Thomas was the only other Storm in double-figures as he scored 12 points and dished out four assists. Horace McGloster added nine points while Henry had eight and six rebounds.

LCU shot 45.3 percent (24-53) from the field and were 9-of-21 from 3-point range. The Chaps hit seven of those treys in the first half, going 7-for-14. Lubbock was also 12-for-15 at the line. SNU struggled from the charity stripe going 16-for-27, but shot 46.2 percent (24-52) from the field. SNU also had a hard time finding their stroke from outside the arc, firing just 2-for-11.

Read led LCU with 15 points while Hewitt had 13 and Williams had 10.

The four-game home stand comes to a close Thursday night when SNU hosts Northwestern Oklahoma State for an 8 p.m. game.

“We just need to get better,” said Bohac. “It's all of us. If we can admit that and have some humility and say today wasn't just a bad day, but that we need to improve then we will come out a much better basketball team on Thursday.”