HONOLULU, Hawaii — Despite shooting 51 percent from the field, including 8-of-16 (50%) from three-point range, No. 11 ranked Southern Nazarene fell 79-78 to Dallas Baptist in the opening round of the Hoops in Hawaii Classic on Sunday night.
 
Shots were going in all over the place inside the Hawaii Convention Center for both sides, as the Patriots (8-3) shot 47.5 percent from the field and knocked down 10 triples in the contest as well. The Crimson Storm (9-2) out-rebounded DBU 37-25 for the game and knocked down 16-of-21 (76.2%) of their free throws.
 
The turnovers turned out to be the biggest difference maker as SNU coughed it up 14 times which turned into 26 DBU points. The Storm forced nine turnovers out of the Patriots but only converted 10 points off of those.
 
Noah Starkey was a force in the paint for Southern Nazarene as he tallied 23 points and a career-high 15 rebounds. Jhonathan Dunn added 16 points while Micah Speight scored 14 points and dished out four assists. Ashton Charles chipped in 10 points and five rebounds off the Storm bench while Zach Johnson scored seven points and recorded two steals in his second start of the season.
 
It was a back and forth contest all throughout the first half as both teams shot over 46 percent in the opening 20 minutes. Dallas Baptist took a 24-18 lead midway through the half before SNU went on a 12-0 run to take the 30-24 advantage. The Patriots responded with a 18-7 run in the final six minutes however to take the 42-37 lead heading into the break.
 
Both teams stayed hot in the second half as the Storm shot 56 percent in the final 20 minutes, including making 5-of-7 (71%) three-pointers. Dallas Baptist matched that by shooting 46 percent from the field and knocking down 6-of-10 (60%) of their three-pointers.
 
The Patriots opened the second half on a 15-4 run to extend their lead to 57-43, which was their largest of the game. SNU responded with a bit of a run themselves to stay alive in the game as R.J. Palmer's dunk with 8:05 left cut the DBU lead to 65-59. After a Palmer free-throw with 4:58 to make it 68-64, it appeared the Crimson Storm were on their way to one of their legendary runs. But Dallas Baptist was not having it in Honolulu as the Patriots knocked down a jumper with 3:08 to play to push their lead back up to eight at 75-67.
 
The final few minutes were chaotic as Dunn and Speight made a pair of shots to cut the lead to 77-74 with 16 seconds to play. After two made free throws from DBU, Ashton Charles connected on a three-pointer to make it 79-78 with 0.6 left. After a foul that took 0.3 off the clock, SNU did not have enough time to get a shot off as the Patriots intentionally missed the free throw to let the clock run out.
 
Southern Nazarene will now take on the loser of the Western Washington and Chaminade tomorrow afternoon at 1:15 HT (5:15 CT).