2015 GAC Basketball Championship Central
 
BETHANY, Oklahoma — The Great American Conference Tournament bracket is set and after the dust settled this week Southern Nazarene will head into its first GAC Tournament as the No. 7 seed.
 
The Crimson Storm will play No. 2 seed East Central Friday at 2:15 p.m. inside the Bruin Fieldhouse at Bartlesville High School. SNU and ECU will tangle for the second time in a week as the two closed out the regular season Saturday down in Ada. The Tigers swept the season series taking a close 78-75 game away from the Storm Jan. 3 in the Sawyer Center before holding on for a 91-83 win at East Central.
 
Southern Nazarene closed the regular season at 13-13 overall and 9-11 in the GAC and are coming in the tournament having lost four of its last five games and lost its last two contests. Both of the last two losses though have come against the top two seeds and the Storm nearly knocked off the GAC regular season champion Ouachita Baptist in the final game this year inside the Sawyer Center.
 
The Tigers and Storm will be the second game Friday as they will follow No. 3 Southern Arkansas and No. 6 Harding who play at noon. SNU swept Southern Arkansas during the regular season and split with Harding. No. 1 OBU plays No. 8 Southwestern Oklahoma State at 5:45 and No. 4 Southeastern Oklahoma State and No. 5 Arkansas Tech close the quarterfinals at 8 p.m.
 
The Crimson Storm have never lost three straight to East Central and the last time these two played each other on a neutral court was in 1997 at the NAIA National Championship and SNU came out on top that time with an 88-86 win. Of the six times these two teams have played each other in the past three seasons since SNU has joined the GAC, four of the games have been decided by eight points or less. SNU holds an 11-9 advantage all-time against ECU.
 
SNU holds a 70-56 all-time record against the field and is 6-8 this year against the tournament field. It only has two losing records to three teams in the field. It is the first conference tournament game SNU has played in since the 2011-12 season when the Storm were a part of the Sooner Athletic Conference. The Storm have won three straight quarterfinal games in its respective conference tournament.