Box Score WINONA LAKE, Ind. — What started as an uphill climb turned into a downhill race as Southern Nazarene climbed out of an early hole to pick up a 74-63 win over Carver College (Ga.) in the quarterfinals of the NCCAA National Championship.
 
"I thought we were a bit tight, tense and anxious in the first half," said SNU Head Coach Adam Bohac. "It was for all the right reasons. We were playing hard, but a bit fast and that showed at the free-throw line and shot selection. We have a whole team who hasn't played in a national tournament and that showed early. I was proud of how we played the second half. We had a bit more poise and hopefully we got some of those nerves out of the way."
 
The Crimson Storm (17-12) have now won nine of their last 11 and have won four straight. CJ Smith and Quan Conner scored a combined 22 points in the second half as each had 11. Smith finished with a game-high 17 points while Conner had 16. Smith went 9-for-10 from the line and added seven rebounds, three assists and three steals. Garrett Butler also had 10 points.
 
"When CJ just calms down and lets it come to him he is super efficient," said Bohac. "He forced the action a bit in the first half and had three turnovers, but didn't turn it over in the second half and got to the line where he is great."
 
The unsung heroes of the night had to have been Dartanyon Meggs and Francisco Hukill. Meggs had eight points and nine rebounds, five of which were offensive, while Hukill had nine points and six rebounds. Antwone Jackson also had nine points, six boards, two steals and a block.
 
"I thought both of those guys brought tremendous energy every time we called their name," said Bohac. "Dartanyon especially was really ready to play. He was just constantly around the ball. He adds a dimension when he is able to play like that."
 
SNU struggled from the field in the first half hitting just 37.9 percent and were just 5-for-17 from 3-point range. The Storm worked it back inside the second half, firing 46.4 percent and finished hitting 42.1 percent from the field.
 
The Cougars (11-17) scored the first seven points of the game and were up 10-2, their biggest lead of the game, just 3:20 into the game. The Storm though answered quickly with a 7-0 run and later used a 7-2 run to tie it at 16 with 11:25 left in the first half.
 
Carver again matched its biggest lead of the contest at 24-16 with 8:56 remaining, but once again SNU answered with a 12-4 run to tie it at 28. SNU took its first lead of the game with 1:39 to play on a Meggs bucket in the paint, at 32-31, but the Cougars scored four straight to take a 35-32 lead at the break.
 
The Storm opened the second half on a 9-3 run to lead 41-38, but Carver answered back with an 8-4 run to take a 46-45 lead.
 
That's when SNU took control with a 6-0 run to lead 51-46 with 8:32 left. Carver did cut it to 51-49 with a trey, but the Storm started to put the game out of reach with an 11-3 run to take its biggest lead of the night at 63-42 on a tradition 3-point play by Meggs.
 
After shooting 41.2 percent in the first half, the Storm held Carver to just 26.5 percent from the field in the second half and allowed just two 3-pointers in the final 20 minutes.
 
SNU will now get set to play the winner of Point Loma Nazarene and Union (Tenn.) Thursday at 7 p.m. (EDT) in the semifinals.