MARYVILLE, Mo. - It may have felt like déjà vu when Southern Nazarene learned they would face St. Cloud State in the same gymnasium as their first trip to the NCAA Tournament one year ago, but when the ball was tipped, it was anything but similar to what happened last year.
The Crimson Storm used a career-high 31 points from
Noah Starkey to go with an incredible defensive effort as they rolled through the Huskies 81-61. The 20-point victory was the first ever NCAA Tournament win for SNU, while the Storm earned a little bit of redemption over St. Cloud from their 81-68 loss last season. It also notched the largest margin of victory in Great American Conference history at the NCAA Tournament, as only one other team has recorded a margin of victory over 10 in the GAC's history.
SNU held a team that entered Saturday shooting 50% from the field to only 24 of 55 (44%) from the field and 7 of 27 (26%) from behind the arc. The Storm also did a much better job of keeping the Huskies off the free throw line than they did a season ago, holding SCSU to only 10 total free throws.
On the offensive end, Southern Nazarene was 32 of 63 (51%) from the field and 5 of 16 (31%) from behind the arc. SNU was also excellent from the free throw line as they were 12 of 13 (92%) at the charity stripe. The Crimson Storm absolutely dominated the boards with a 40-23 advantage. SNU had 10 assists to only eight turnovers while holding St. Cloud to only four assists and turning them over nine times.
Early on, the Huskies were the aggressor, jumping out to a 6-0 lead before pushing their lead to 14-5 in the first five minutes of the game. A 3-pointer from
Coleman Edwards seemed to calm the SNU nerves and the Crimson Storm began to feed the big man in Starkey.
The 6'11 senior went on a rampage, getting Sean Smith into foul trouble and completely owning the paint possession after possession. After trailing 17-12, SNU went on a 16-2 run midway through the first half to completely take control of the game at 28-19.
That run would increase to 21-4 as SNU got their lead over double digits at 33-21, and the Storm closed the half strong to take an 11 point lead into the break at 40-29.
In the second half, the guard play began to heat up along with great play from SNU's other big man
Quaylon Newton. Buckets from Starkey, Newton, and
Zach Johnson got the lead out to 15 and SNU kept it there throughout the first five minutes of play.
St. Cloud tried to get some sort of run going to get it under 10 points, but never could in the second half as
Jhonathan Dunn began to fin his rhythm, pushing the lead out to 19 with under 10 minutes to play after a steal and lay in from Johnson.
From there, SNU's stifling defense gave the Huskies no hope as the lead ballooned as high as 24 and the Crimson Storm made a statement among one of the region's best.
Starkey finished with 31 points and nine rebounds while Dunn added 17 points. Edwards scored 11 off the bench with three 3-pointers. Johnson had eight points while Newton added eight points, six boards, and two steals.
Micah Speight scored four points to go with six assists and five rebounds while
Ashton Charles had two points.
Gage Davis, one of the nation's top scorer's, had 25 points, but on 20 shots to go with five boards while Smith added 11 points and seven boards. Jace Kitchen scored nine points off the bench.
The Crimson Storm move to 29-5 overall.
The GAC also went 2-0 today for the first time in conference history with the Crimson Storm's victory as well as Southeastern's overtime victory over Northern State. The GAC went 2-0 over the Northern Sun on Saturday afternoon.
Dunn's six made shots tonight made him the GAC's all-time leader in made field goals with 561 while Starkey's nine rebounds moves him one behind the GAC career record for most rebound with 730.
SNU will get a short rest and prepare for a huge match-up tomorrow evening as they will take on the No. 1 team both in the region and the nation in Northwest Missouri State. Southeastern Oklahoma State and Missouri Southern State will lead things off at 5:00 p.m. and the Crimson Storm and Bearcats will square off at 7:30 p.m. inside Bearcat Arena with a birth in the Regional Final on the line.
