BARTLESVILLE, Okla. — Southern Nazarene's first year of Great American Conference postseason eligibility came to a close Friday in the quarterfinals of the GAC Tournament with a 78-58 loss against East Central inside the Bruin Fieldhouse.
 
Garrett Butler and Corey McCary combined for 27 points as Butler had 13 and McCrary had 14 points. Both hit three 3-pointers on the night. Butler went 5-for-11 from the field and had one steal. McCrary went 4-for-7 from the field and 3-for-4 from outside.
 
Jared Starkey and CJ Rodriguez each had eight points as well. Rodriguez had seven rebounds and four assists while Starkey had four rebounds, two assists and two blocks.
 
The Storm hit just 35.6 percent from the field as they shot just 21-for-59. SNU was also 7-for-11 at the line. The Tigers hit 53.8 percent from the field and were 10-for-25 from beyond the arc.
 
Despite turning ball over one less time than ECU (15-14), the Storm was only able to turn those 15 turnovers into four points while the Tigers scored 15 points off of SNU's turnovers.
 
East Central had a hot hand from the opening tip and didn't let up. The Tigers led 11-7 with 14:37 to play in the opening half, but used a 22-7 run to take a 33-14 lead with 5:03 left. Corey McCrary buried a 3-pointer with 2:07 left to cut it to 35-23, but ECU extended it to 43-27 at the half.
 
It was much of the same in the second half as the Tigers kept any SNU run at bay. The closest the Storm came in the second half was 13 at 45-32 with 17:37 left to play.
 
SNU will return the entire team for the 2015-16 season.