BETHANY - In 2017-18, the Southern Nazarene men's basketball team was picked to finish fourth in the GAC. Everyone expected the Crimson Storm to have a great team, but no one quite saw the 21-1 in-conference record coming while finishing 27-3 and making their first appearance in the NCAA Tournament. In a way, SNU flew in under the radar and turned the GAC world upside down.

They were the king of the mountain, and it was a long, hard tough road to get to that peak.

What No. 15 Southern Nazarene, the GAC preseason favorites in 2018-19, found out in this new season is that it's even harder to stay on top.

But as the dust settles on the regular season with the end nearing next weekend, there's still a king of the mountain. Through peaks and valley, it's still Southern Nazarene.

SNU overcame a red-hot shooting Arkansas Tech team from the perimeter and went on to defeat the Wonder Boys, 93-82, to lay claim to their second consecutive outright GAC Regular Season Championship.

There's so much more to do and so much more to accomplish, but for now, it's quite an accomplishment. It is the first time SNU men's basketball has repeated as conference champions in their illustrious history. 

It certainly wasn't easy.

SNU shot it well again from the field, going 32 of 56 (57%) from the field and 5 of 12 (42%) from deep. The Crimson Storm got to the line 31 time and shot 77%. SNU scored 50 of their 93 points in the paint. On the other end, Tech was 28 of 63 (44%) from the field while connecting on an amazing 17 3-pointers (46%). The Wonder Boys only got to the line 13 times and shot 69%. 

Tech did everything right, finishing with 18 assists to SNU's 12 while also only turning it over eight times to SNU's 10. However, as a champion does, SNU found a way.

With it being Senior Day, SNU put a special starting lineup out in Zach Johnson, Coleman Edwards, Chris Stephens, Brady Mulkey, and RJ Palmer. They took advantage of the opportunity and Stephens opened with a three, Palmer finished a monster dunk, and Mulkey found a seem for a lay in to put SNU on top 7-0.

As things settled in and the usual starting five entered the game, SNU got a boost from that original starting five and built their lead out to 18-5 after a 3-point play from Jhonathan Dunn. SNU maintained a lead, but Tech began to find their stroke as they started burying 3-pointers to get back into the game.

As SNU took advantage of Tech in the paint, the Wonder Boys were able to find creases in the defense and bury 3-pointers. Tech rallied back behind the 3-ball and got it down to one with 7:14 to play in the half. Palmer went to work in the paint and got the lead back out to six and a Quaylon Newton lay in gave SNU an eight point lead at 41-33. As the half wound down, Tech got their 10th 3-pointer towards the end of the half to cut the deficit to 46-42 going into the break.

As the second half progressed it was a battle of two styles and offensive game plans. On one side, you had Tech trying to get as many 3s up as they can. On the other side, you have SNU taking advantage of their match up inside the paint. SNU built their lead out to seven behind Starkey and five straight points from Newton, but Tech responded with an 8-0 run to move ahead for the first time, 53-52.

SNU did not panic and continued to press the paint, getting lay ups from Johnson, Palmer, and Dunn to push back ahead 61-58. SNU pushed the lead to five after a 3-pointer from Johnson with under 12 minutes to play.

Leading 73-71 with under 10 remaining in the contest, the Crimson Storm got a huge 3-pointer from Micah Speight followed by a mid-range jumper to eventually push their lead back out to 80-73. SNU used the power of Noah Starkey and Newton in the paint to finally balloon their lead out to 10 at 87-77 with under four to play.

From there, SNU played slow in their half court offense and came up with a handful of stops late to eventually get the lead to a game high 14. Despite the frantic shooting of the Wonder Boys, it was SNU who closed the Sawyer Center with a huge 11-point win, exacting a little revenge on Tech from their loss earlier this season.

Starkey led the way with 18 points and six boards while Palmer scored 18 as well off the bench. Newton added a double-double with 15 points and 10 boards while Dunn had 13 and five boards. Johnson poured in 11 and four boards while Speight had nine points and four assists.

On the other end, Ramses Sandifer had another nice contest against SNU, going for 22 points while Alex Brown added 19.

With the win, SNU goes to 24-4 on the year and 17-3 in the GAC. They will be the No. 1 seed at the GAC Tournament in Bartlesville in two weeks.

However, there is still basketball to be played and SNU will look to close the regular season strong beginning on Thursday as they make the trip to Magnolia, Ark. for a second meeting against Southern Arkansas. Tip-off is scheduled for 7:30.