BETHANY, Okla. — A bit of a rough start turned into a solid finish for Southern Nazarene in an 83-65 win over Southwestern Christian in the season opener.
 
Garrett Butler and LB Willis both tied for a game-high 18 points as Butler buried four 3-pointers and went 6-for-11 from the field and Willis went 7-for-15 from the floor. Willis also had five rebounds, five assists and five steals while going 3-for-4 from the line. Anton Kankaanpaa was also 5-for-10 from the floor as he had 11 points and five rebounds.
 
"I felt for the most part we took good shots and we he had high energy tonight," said Head Coach Adam Bohac. "LB was under control and kept us in our offense. He missed a few right at the basket that he wont miss moving forward and Garrett got hot in the first and ran a few together."
 
The Crimson Storm shot 27-for-67 from the floor and were 8-for-24 from 3-point range. The Storm scored 20 points off of 20 SCU turnovers and had 32 points in the pain compared to 18 from the Eagles. SNU also went 21-for-26 at the free-throw line.
 
SNU never trailed the entire game, but didn't get to a double-digit lead until the 5:27 mark in the first half when Dartanyon Meggs sank two free throws in a 7-0 run by SNU to lead 21-10. The Eagles cut it to 21-12 with 5:17 left, but SNU answered with a 13-5 run to lead 34-17 and then lead 37-20 on Butler's eighth point in that entire run. The Storm took its biggest lead of the half at 41-23 before taking a 41-26 lead into the half.
 
Southern Nazarene led by as much as 24 in the game before holding off the Eagles for the win.