Box Score ALVA, Okla. — Quan Conner scored a career-high 30 points for Southern Nazarene in an 83-76 win over the defending Great American Conference Champion Northwestern Oklahoma State, Saturday evening.Â
The Crimson Storm (4-4, 2-1 GAC) moved to .500 for the first time this season and picked up a win in their first conference road trip of the season.
Conner hit five 3-pointers going 5-for-10 from downtown and also went 9-for-15 from the field. He also went 7-for-9 at the free-throw line and had four steals as well.
CJ Smith added 26 points, eight rebounds and three assists as he went 7-for-9 from the field, 3-for-4 from beyond the arc and 9-for-11 at the charity stripe.
LB Willis also added 10 points.
SNU turned it over just 10 times on the night and gave up just seven points off of turnovers. The Storm though converted 11 Ranger turnovers into 18 points. SNU also had 12 points off of fast breaks while holding Northwestern to just two points off of fast breaks.
The Storm hit 48 percent from the field going 24-for-50 and were 10-of-25 from 3-point range. SNU also got to the line 34 times, hitting 25 of those attempts.Â
SNU led the entire game, but didn't carry an advantage of greater than eight until the second half. The Storm led 40-34 at the half before going on a 10-2 run to start the second half and took their biggest lead at 50-36. SNU had a 67-54 lead with 9:41 left before the Rangers closed it to five at 70-65 with 7:15 to play. Southern Nazarene pushed it back to 10 on two different occasions with the final time coming at 77-67, but Northwestern answered with a 9-3 run to get it to 80-76 with just a minute left.
The Storm though hit three free throws down the stretch to pick up the win.
SNU now steps out of conference for the last time this season when it hosts former Sooner Athletic Conference rival Oklahoma City, Saturday, at 5 p.m.
