BETHANY, Okla. — Over the past three years, no matter how deep Harding is, Southern Nazarene seems to rise to just the right level to knock off one of the most storied programs in the Great American Conference.
 
Go ahead and add Thursday night's game to the annals of what is becoming a rivalry in the GAC as the Crimson Storm (9-11, 8-6 GAC) knocked off one of the top teams in the conference with a 93-87 win over the Bisons (12-7, 11-3 GAC). It was the third straight year SNU has knocked off Harding in the Sawyer Center.
 
SNU led by as much as 20 in the second half as it held a 51-31 lead with 17:38 to play. The Bisons kept chipping away though. Harding cut it to 53-42 with 15:59 to play before going on a hellacious run midway through the second half. After the Storm pushed the lead back to 64-49 with 11:02 to play, the Bisons went on a 26-10 run to take just their fourth lead of the game, and first since 18-17 in the first half, at 75-74 with 3:04 remaining.
 
Just 13 seconds later though CJ Rodriguez and Anton Kankaanpaa drained back-to-back 3-pointers to put SNU up 80-75 with 2:19 to play. The Crimson Storm never trailed again as it hit 10 straight free throws and added another trey in the final two minutes to secure the win.
 
Rodriguez finished with 31 points on the night, as he was just two shy of a career-high. The senior went 10-for-11 from the field and 5-for-6 from 3-point range. He also added eight assists, five rebounds, three steals and two blocks while going 6-for-7 at the line. LB Willis added 20 points and seven rebounds as he went 5-for-10 from the field and 10-for-12 at the line.
 
Deshon Portley scored a career-high 18 points as he was 5-for-8 from the field and 4-for-6 from downtown. He was also perfect at the line, going 4-for-4. C.J. White chipped in with 12 points and seven rebounds.
 
The Storm shot a season-high 82.1 percent from the free-throw line as they went 23-for-28. SNU shot 58.8 percent from the field on the night and hit 70 percent (14-for-20) from the field in the second half. The Storm also went 10-for-20 from 3-point range and were 5-for-7 in the second half.