BETHANY – Just 22 hours after suffering one of the most draining losses in double-overtime, No. 9 ranked Southern Nazarene responded with a 67-61 victory over No. 15 ranked Northern State inside the Sawyer Center.
After leading at one point in the game by 25, the Crimson Storm (2-2) had to be careful as the Wolves (0-2) cut the lead to three with just 1:19 to play. SNU didn't shoot the ball nearly as well as they did last night but used 13 offensive rebounds and 18 made free-throws to close out NSU. The Storm converted just 21-of-63 field goals (33.3 percent) including 7-of-25 tries (28 percent) from three-point land. The Wolves shot 41.8 percent from the floor, including 23.5 percent from downtown.
Jhonathan Dunn picked up right where he left off last night as the senior led the way for the Storm with a game-high 28 points on 9-of-22 shooting, including 4-of-8 from behind the three-point arc. Dunn has now made at least four triples in three of his first four games this season. The guard also added a season-high nine rebounds to go along with two steals.
The Storm's orchestrator
Micah Speight didn't have his best offensive night for head coach
Adam Bohac, but made his presence felt in other areas as he finished with a game-high six assists in the contest. He finished with 15 points on 5-of-15 shooting and knocked down 2-of-7 three-point attempts. He also added four rebounds as well.
Dunn and Speight were the only SNU players in double figures as
Karlyn Kenner came off the bench and scored eight points in just his second appearance on the floor for SNU. The freshman made 4-of-5 free-throws in 17 minutes.
Morris Wilson II added seven points and six rebounds for the Storm while
Manny Dixon chipped in five points and five rebounds as well.
Brady Mulkey and
Maik Bouwer each collected seven rebounds in the game as the pair each scored two points for SNU.
Southern Nazarene held Northern State to 23.1 percent shooting from the floor as the Wolves struggled to get anything going. NSU went 0-for-8 from downtown as SNU jumped out to a quick 20-9 lead. Later, a free throw from Kenner pushed it to 30-13 before Dunn buried a triple to increase their lead to 20. The Wolves got a bucket coming down the stretch as the Storm took a 35-17 lead into halftime.
The Wolves shooting woes stayed in the locker room at halftime because they came out and shot 58.6 percent in the final 20 minutes and mounted a comeback. After a jumper from Kenner gave SNU its largest lead of the night at 58-33, the Wolves went on a 21-2 run to cut the Storm lead down to six. SNU bumped their lead back up to eight with 2:13 to play, before Northern went on a 5-0 run to make it 64-61 with 1:19 to play.
Dunn knocked down a couple of big free throws in the final minute as the Storm defense buckled down and sent the Wolves back to South Dakota winless on the weekend.
Southern Nazarene will be back in action next weekend at the Courtyard Marriott Classic in Laredo, Texas as they take on St. Mary's on Friday night at 5:00 p.m. and Texas A&M International at 5:00 on Saturday.
