BETHANY, Okla.  — Southern Nazarene brought in a 9-2 record in the final home game of the season, but East Central played the spoiler on Senior Night as it kept SNU from hitting double-digit wins inside the Sawyer Center.
 
The Tigers (19-6, 15-4 GAC) remained on top of the Great American Conference standings with a 74-70 win over the Crimson Storm (11-14, 10-9 GAC).
 
Southern Nazarene had six players in double figures as Deshon Portley led the way with a team-high 15 points. He went 4-for-6 form 3-point range and added eight assists. Dartanyon Meggs added 12 points while CJ Rodriguez added 11 points and six rebounds. Francisco Hukill and C.J. White each added 10 points as White had seven rebounds and Hukill had five. Garrett Butler also had 10 points.
 
The Tigers turned the ball over just five times and scored 16 points off of SNU's nine turnovers. ECU also went 22-for-25 at the line while the Storm went 5-for-9. The Storm shot 49.1 percent from the field and went 11-for-25 from 3-point range. The Tigers hit 40.7 percent from the field and went 8-for-17 from downtown.
 
The Storm held two early leads in the first half with the latter coming at 7-5, but East Central went on a 19-8 run to take a 24-15 lead with 7:18 remaining in the half. The Tigers took a 37-30 lead into the half, but the Storm scored the first five points of the half to cut it to 37-35. ECU pushed it back to 45-35 with 15:35 to play before a CJ Rodriguez layup sparked a 10-0 run by the Storm to tie it at 45.
 
The Tigers pushed it to four twice with the second coming at 54-50 with 5:23 left. A Deshon Portley trey and a Dartanyon Meggs free throw tied it at 54, but ECU scored three straight to lead 57-54. C.J. White got back-to-back layups to give SNU its first lead since 7-5 at 58-57 with 2:51 left. The Tigers though went on an 8-2 run to lead 65-60 with 45 seconds left and held the Storm at bay from there.