MARYVILLE, Mo. - Despite holding Northwest Missouri State to a season-low 70 points, the Southern Nazarene men's basketball team did not quite have enough on the offensive end as they fell to the top-ranked Bearcats on their home floor, 70-59, in the semifinals of the NCAA Central Region.

Southern Nazarene concludes their season at 29-6 while Northwest moves to 34-0 and will battles Missouri Southern State for the region championship.

SNU and Northwest were equal footing in numerous categories as both teams made 23 shots, both teams made seven 3-pointers, and both teams pulled down 29 rebounds with the Crimson Storm even holding a 12-11 advantage in assists.

However, two categories made the difference in the game as the Bearcats doubled up the Crimson Storm in free throws (20-10) and forced turnovers (12-6) including nine SNU turnovers in the first half.

Jhonathan Dunn opened the game with a lay in for the 2-0 lead, but Northwest scored the next seven points for a 7-2 lead. The Crimson Storm cut it to 9-5 at the first media timeouts, but the Bearcat offense found a rhythm, moving ahead 14-5 in the early going.

SNU began to settle in, especially on the defensive end, getting stops and pulling in rebounds. 

Trailing 22-13, SNU went on a 10-3 run behind a pair of 3-pointers from Jhonathan Dunn and Micah Speight as well as work in the paint from Noah Starkey to move within one point at 24-23 with under four minutes to play in the half.

However, Northwest went on a 12-2 run to take a 36-25 lead with 27 seconds remaining. Dunn closed the half with a 3-pointer at the buzzer to move it within eight at the break.

In the second half, SNU looked for an opening to go on a run and push the Bearcats. The game would hover between eight and 12 points for the first 10 minutes of the half with Northwest making a big play every time the Crimson Storm looked to have a run in them.

Down 56-43 with under eight to play, SNU found the opening they were looking for as back-to-back 3-pointers got it to 56-49 followed by back-to-back lay ins from Ashton Charles and Noah Starkey to complete a 10-2 run and get hte game down to five at 58-53.

Northwest responded with a pair of free throws and a 3-pointer to get the lead back to 10. SNU got back-to-back baskets from Starkey and Dunn to get it back to six with 1:38 left, but a 30-foot heave at the shot clock buzzer from Trevor Hudgins was the dagger as the Bearcats got the lead back to nine and was able to put the game away.

Dunn finished with 17 points to go with five boards and three assists while Speight added 16 points. Starkey also had 16 points, eight boards, and two blocks. Charles scored four, Edwards had three, and R.J. Palmer had three.

Potential National Player of the Year Joey Witthus had 29 points while Hudgins had 16 points, seven rebounds, and four assists.. Diego Bernard had 10 points and six boards.

In two seasons, SNU has won 56 games while only losing nine. They became the first team in GAC history to go back-to-back in both the regular season outright as well as the tournament while making NCAA Tournament appearances both years, including winning their first tournament game since becoming a NCAA Division II member.

SNU will say goodbye to seven seniors who have built the foundation of SNU basketball. Those seven seniors are Noah Starkey, Quaylon Newton, Zach Johnson, R.J. Palmer, Coleman Edwards, Chris Stephens, and Brady Mulkey.