BETHANY, Okla. — LB Willis scored a team-high 16 points for Southern Nazarene in a 78-75 loss to East Central Saturday afternoon inside the Sawyer Center.
 
The Crimson Storm (7-5, 3-3 GAC) had four players in double figures and had nine players put points on the board. Willis went 6-for-13 from the field and added seven assists and three steals.
 
Francisco Hukill added 13 points and six rebounds as he went 5-for-12 from the floor and hit three 3-pointers. C.J. Rodriguez and Jared Starkey each chipped in with 11 points as well. SNU went 26-for-55 from the field hitting 47.3 percent from the field and shot 37.5 percent from beyond the arc going 9-for-24. SNU also went 14-for-16 at the line.
 
The Storm scored 18 points off of 16 ECU turnovers, but the Tigers fired 50 percent from the field going 27-for-54 and 11-for-22 from 3-point range making just enough difference in the game.
 
The Tigers and Storm exchanged 11 lead changes and nine ties in the first half with neither team leading by more than five. ECU had the biggest lead of the half at 7-2 early and just held a narrow margin of 36-35 at the break. The Crimson Storm took a 41-38 lead early in the second half, but East Central went on a 20-7 run to lead 58-46 with 12:22 left. SNU cut it to 58-51 with 11:09 to play, but the Tigers responded with a 14-6 run to lead 72-57 with 6:22 remaining. The Storm answered with 11 straight to cut it to 72-68 with 3:25 left.
 
After going scoreless for nearly six minutes, East Central finally got a bucket from Stirling Thomas to push it to 74-68with 1:17 to play. LB Willis hit two free throws to make it 74-70 before Dartanyon Meggs hit shortened the deficit to 74-72 with a pair of free throws with 20 seconds left. ECU pushed it to 76-72 with two at the line, but Hukill buried a trey with 10 seconds left to put the Storm within one at 76-75, but ECU hit two free throws and forced a turnover to put it away.