DURANT, Okla. — It took 12 lead changes with seven of those five of those coming in the last seven minutes of the game, but Southern Nazarene pulled off a thriller on the road with a 56-55 win at Southeastern Oklahoma State.
 
The win clinches a Great American Conference Championships berth for the Crimson Storm (12-14, 11-9 GAC) with the opportunity to be as high as a four seed or as low as an eight seed. It is the second straight year the Storm have clinched a spot in the GAC Championships. It was also the first win in Durant since the 1993 season.
 
Deshon Portley finished with a team-high 19 points as he went 8-for-12 from the field and 3-for-5 from 4-point range. He also had four assists and three rebounds. CJ Rodriguez played the hero in the final minutes with the game-winning layup with four seconds left as he finished with 13 points on 5-of-12 shooting. He also had seven rebounds.
 
The Crimson Storm shot 41.2 percent from the field and went 7-for-20 from 3-point range. They also were 7-for-10 at the foul line.
 
The Crimson Storm jumped out to an early 15-7 lead, but SOSU scored eight straight to tie it at 15. SNU didn't trail in the first half, but only took a 21-20 lead into break. Southern Nazarene pushed it to 26-22 early in the second half, but Southeastern scored five straight to take its first lead of the game and pushed it to a 12-5 run to take a 34-31 lead with 13:22 left to play.
 
The Savage Storm led 44-39 with 7:16 to play, but SNU got five straight points from Rodriguez to tie the game at 44. SOSU scored four straight to lead 48-44, but a Portley trey and a C.J. White bucket in the paint gave the lead back to SNU at 49-48 with 3:11 left to play.
 
Southeastern answered right back with five straight to lead 53-49, but back came Southern Nazarene with five straight, including a pair of free throws by Rodriguez to give SNU a 54-53 lead. SOSU's Lyler Lonzie put the Savage Storm up 55-54 with nine seconds left, but then came Rodriguez's heroics with four seconds left to give SNU the win.