Southern Nazarene University Athletics

Bug Bombers

1/25/2018 10:15:00 PM

Storm notch 11th straight with win at Arkansas-Monticello

MONTICELLO, Ark. — The turn has been made in the Great American Conference and No. 15/16 Southern Nazarene kept its grip on its undefeated season in GAC play Thursday night with a 73-63 win at Arkansas-Monticello.
 
It is the third straight win over the Weevils (11-7, 6-6 GAC) and is the fourth time the Crimson Storm (15-1, 12-0) have swept the season series with UAM. That win, combined with a few others loses in the GAC, has pushed SNU's lead in the conference race to four games. The streak also moved to 11 straight and eighth on the road.
 
Jhonathan Dunn scored a season-high 27 points as he was 4-for-5 from downtown and 10-for-18 from the field. He was also 4-of-5 at the free-throw line. Micah Speight matched his career-high with 26, going 7-for-15 from the field, 4-for-9 from beyond the arc and was a perfect 8-of-8 from the line. He nearly had a double-double with nine assists to go with three rebounds and three steals. Quaylon Newton was just two rebounds shy of a double-double as he had 10 points and eight boards. He was also just a block short of tying his career-high with four.
 
Despite shooting its lowest field goal percentage in conference play, the Storm turned the ball over just 11 times and went 20-for-22 line. SNU was also 9-for-18 from beyond the arc. SNU held UAM to 45.1 percent from the floor and allowed the Weevils to shoot just 4-of-15 from outside.  
 
The Storm jumped out to a 14-7 lead early and took a nine-point lead twice in the first half, but never could stretch the lead to double-digits in the first 20 minutes. SNU led 34-25 with 4:37 to play when the Weevils scored seven straight to cut it to 34-32. The Storm went on a 7-2 run, capped by a Dunn slam, to lead 41-34 and eventually took a 43-36 lead at the half.
 
Southern Nazarene again pushed its lead to nine two different times early in the second half. The Storm were up 47-38 when Monticello went on a 14-1 run to lead 52-48 with 12:08 left to play. That was the biggest lead of the night for UAM and its first lead since the 17:47 mark of the first half. UAM matched the lead at 54-50 with 9:15 to play, but the lead was short-lived. A Speight trey sparked a 23-6 run over the final eight minutes as SNU rallied for the win.