BETHANY, Okla. — Despite leading by as much as 25 points in the game and 22 in the second half, Southern Nazarene needed every break it got in the final minutes as it survived a late rush by Southwestern Oklahoma State in an 82-77 win.
 
The Crimson Storm (6-8, 5-3 GAC) picked up their second straight win in the Great American Conference and third straight over the Bulldogs (8-6, 4-4) who have now lost four consecutive. It's the first time since the opening week of GAC play that SNU has put together back-to-back wins and the Storm have won three of the last four.
 
SNU raced out to a big lead in the first half thanks to a 25-3 run capped by an Anton Kankaanpaa 3-pointer that put the Storm up 38-13 with 2:23 left in the half. Southwestern scored four straight to cut the deficit to 38-19 at the break, and scored the first six points of the second half to make it 38-25.
 
SNU though pushed back to a 21-point lead with 14:10 to play at 53-32, but the Bulldogs kept chipping away from there. SWOSU went on a 13-3 run to cut it to 56-45 with 10:26 left. SNU led 63-49 with 6:12 to play, but Southwestern went on a 20-10 run to close the gap to 73-69 with 1:54 to play. The Bulldogs got as close to three points away at 80-77 with 19 seconds left to play on three straight Martell Collins free throws, but SNU held on in the final seconds for the win.
 
The win moves the Storm into at least a tie for fourth at this point as the GAC season will reach the halfway point next Saturday.
 
CJ Rodriguez and LB Willis combined for 44 poitns on the night as Rodrigue led the way with 23 on 7-of-14 shooting from the field and 5-for-9 from 3-point range. He also was 4-for-4 at the line. Willis had 21 points, seven rebounds and four assists. He went 6-for-10 from the field and 8-for-10 at the stripe. Deshon Portley added 13 points as well.
 
The Storm shot 43.1 percent from the field and went 10-for-23 from beyond the arc. SNU also shot 22-for-30, which was the most free throws hit in a GAC game since SNU defeated Ouachita back on Nov. 21.