BETHANY, Okla. — Jhonathan Dunn couldn't wait to get back on the court Thursday night after the 2016-17 GAC Freshman of the Year sat out the season opener due to an injury suffered in practice last week. Dunn made an impressive debut as he dropped 26 for Southern Nazarene in a 90-81 win over Southern Arkansas in the Great American Conference opener.
 
Dunn, who was just two points shy of his career-high, added five rebounds and three assists as he went 7-for-16 from the field and 4-for-9 from 3-point range. He was also 8-for-10 at the line. The Crimson Storm (2-0, 1-0 GAC)  also got 20 points and three assists from Micah Speight who was a perfect 13-for-13 at the charity stripe. Noah Starkey was just a rebound short of his second straight double-double with 18 points and nine rebounds. Zach Johnson also added 10 points and four assists off of the bench.
 
The Storm went 24-for-24 from the field and were 39-for-53 from the line. The Muleriders were held to 33.8 percent shooting from the floor, but went 10-for-23 from 3-point range. SAU though was just 27-for-41 at the line. The two teams combined for 94 free throws as 71 fouls were called.
 
After trailing 5-2 early in the first half, Jhonathan Dunn ripped his first three of the year to start a 15-5 run to lead 17-10 with 10:21 left in the first. The Storm pushed the lead to 32-23 with 3:33 let in the half, but the Muleriders hit back-to-back treys to cut it to 32-29. SNU scored five straight to lead 37-29 with 55 seconds left and took a 39-33 lead to the locker room at the half.
 
The Storm opened the second half on an 11-1 run that was capped by a monstrous dunk by Quaylon Newton on an inbounds pass. The Muleriders answered with an 11-3 run to cut to 53-44 with 13:23 to play. SNU pushed it back to 57-44 on a pair of Speight free throws, but SAU answered with an 11-2 run to cut it to 59-55 with 10 minutes left.
 
The Muleriders got the deficit to four two more times, but that was as close as SAU came though the rest of the night.