Box Score BETHANY, Okla. — Every kid who has ever played basketball has spent many times counting down the last few seconds and dreaming of hitting the last shot. For Southern Nazarene's Quan Conner, it became a reality as the senior drained a game-winning trey with 1.8 seconds left to lift SNU to an 82-81 win over Northwestern Oklahoma State in the final game of the regular season.
 
"I knew I had to take it in my hands and get it back with that shot," said Conner. "This was my last game at SNU and had to take it out with a bang."
 
The win secures a spot in the NCCAA Central Region Tournament for the Crimson Storm (14-12, 12-8 GAC) and locks up third place in the Great American Conference.
 
Conner, who had hit 148 3-pointers in his career coming into the night, added three more as he hit the biggest bucket of his career with his final shot ever inside the Sawyer Center. Conner finished with 17 points and three assists after getting in early foul trouble in the first half. He went 7-for-13 from the field and 3-for-7 from beyond the arc. LB Willis and Garrett Butler both had career-highs as Willis went for 24 and Butler had 20 and both were off of the bench. Willis went 9-for-10 from the field, 3-for-3, from 3-point range and added five assists and four steals. Butler drained five 3-poitners and went 7-for-12 from the field. Anton Kankaanpaa also scored a career-high 11 points and added five rebounds. Antwone Jackson also tied a career-high with five blocks.
 
"Quan and CJ (Smith) didn't have a basket the first half because of foul trouble and LB and Garrett carried the load offensively," said SNU Head Coach Adam Bohac. "You look up and you see we've scored 40 without two all-league guys. We just couldn't stop Northwestern as they hit several big shots, but we just hit one more."
 
It took 16 lead changes, six in the final five minutes, before time ran out. Neither team led by more than eight at any point in time and the lead was no larger than five in the second half. SNU led 68-64 with 4:57 to play when Northwestern went on a 9-4 run to take a 73-72 lead with 3:04 to play. Conner gave SNU the lead with 2:45 left with a layup, but a Ranger 3-pointer put NWOSU back up at 76-74 with 2:13 on the clock. Willis then put the Storm on top with his third trey at 77-76 with 1:49 to play, but the Rangers got four straight to lead 80-77 with 54 ticks left.
 
SNU took advantage of a missed front end of a one-and-one and got another layup by Conner with 11 seconds left as SNU cut it to 80-79. Northwestern had a chance to take an 82-79 lead, but missed the second of two free throws with eight seconds left. Conner then dribbled the ball right up to the left side outside the arc and sank the game winner.
 
Southern Nazarene now awaits to see who it will play either Thursday or Friday in its first game at the NCCAA Central Region that will be played at Oklahoma Christian.