BETHANY – Southern Nazarene extended its winning streak inside the Sawyer Center to 10 games on Saturday afternoon as they dominated Ouachita Baptist 70-47.
The Crimson Storm (16-6, 10-4 GAC) made it a perfect 2-0 week on their home floor as their defense shined yet again in Bethany. They held the Tigers (8-11, 5-9 GAC) to 36 percent shooting from the floor and 23 percent from 3-point range. SNU forced 16 Ouachita turnovers which they converted into 17 points going the other direction. The Storm shot 41 percent from the floor and made just 9-of-24 (37.5%) 3-point tries, but they dominated the glass as they out-rebounded Ouachita 38-27 in the contest.
After being honored before the game as the program's all-time leading scorer, senior
Jhonathan Dunn added 26 more points to his career total, leading all scorers once again. He reached the 20+ plateau for the 20
th time this season as he went 9-for-20 from the floor and 5-for-8 from downtown while adding eight rebounds and three steals.
Micah Speight did a beautiful job orchestrating the SNU offense once again as he finished with 14 points, a game-high eight assists, and five rebounds.
Tyler Williams continued his stellar play from Thursday night as he finished in double-figures with 11 points and seven rebounds in 32 minutes of action.
Manny Dixon came off the Storm bench to add eight points and two rebounds while
Nick Davis got his second straight start and chipped in six points and five rebounds.
Maik Bouwer also added three points and seven rebounds for SNU as well.
Ouachita Baptist never led in the game as they struggled all afternoon to keep the Southern Nazarene onslaught in check. The Tigers managed to keep things close in the first 15 minutes of the opening half, but the Storm run was coming. After a Speight free-throw gave SNU a 22-21 lead, the Storm closed the final 4:23 of the first half on an 11-3 run to take a 33-24 advantage into halftime.
The second half proved to be too much for the Tigers as SNU opened the first few minutes in a big way to extend their lead to 45-29. The Storm later pushed their lead 50-29 with 12:36 and head coach
Adam Bohac and company didn't take their foot off the gas pedal. They held the 20+ for five more minutes before Ouachita tried to make a push and get back in it. The closest they came in the final five minutes was 14, as the Crimson Storm's defense held strong to secure their 10
th straight victory inside Sawyer.
Southern Nazarene will hit the road next week as they take on Northwestern Oklahoma State in Alva on Thursday night. Tipoff is scheduled for 7:30 p.m.