SHAWNEE, Okla. – Oklahoma Baptist entered Thursday having previously knocked off the Great American Conference's number one team in the standings in each of its last two games at home. They made it three in a row inside the Noble Complex as they stunned Southern Nazarene 59-56 on Thursday night, capturing their first victory over SNU since joining the GAC.
 
The Crimson Storm (18-7, 12-5 GAC) didn't have their best offensive night against their rival as they shot just 42.2 percent from the floor and 7-of-23 (30.4%) from behind the 3-point line. The biggest disparity and the stat that will haunt the Storm for nights to come is what they did at the free-throw line on Thursday. They converted just 11-of-20 (55%) attempts at the charity stripe, and started the game 1-for-8 from the line.
 
The Bison (15-8, 10-7 GAC) shot 47.8 percent from the floor and the Storm forced 17 turnovers in the contest. OKBU out-rebounded SNU 30-26 as both teams collected nine offensive rebounds. The Bison dished out 15 assists compared to nine for the Storm while SNU had 10 steals compared to just five for OKBU.
 
Micah Speight led the way in scoring for Southern Nazarene as he poured in 15 points on 5-of-14 shooting and 4-of-11 shooting from behind the arc. He also added two rebounds, one assist and one steal as well. For just the second time this season, Jhonathan Dunn was held to zero three-point makes as he finished the game with 14 points on 5-of-12 shooting to go along with five rebounds and a game-high four steals. The 12 shot attempts is the fewest in a game for Dunn since the November 30^th, 2019 game against Oklahoma Christian.
 
Manny Dixon had a great night off the Crimson Storm bench as he added 10 points on 4-of-5 shooting to go along with four rebounds and two assists. Tyler Williams added seven points, three assists and two steals, while Nick Davis finished with five points and four rebounds.
 
The game was full of energy right from the opening tip as Southern Nazarene jumped out to an early 11-5 lead. The Bison were not backing down however as they took their first lead of the first half at 20-18 with 9:17 to play in the opening frame. After the lead changed hands a couple more times, OKBU took a 29-23 lead before the Storm closed the final 2:30 on a 5-0 run to cut the Oklahoma Baptist lead to 29-28 heading into halftime.
 
The opening four minutes of the second half also came back to bite the Crimson Storm as they didn't get their first bucket of the second frame until the 16:05 mark. Their defense kept them in it however even when their offense sputtered. The Bison pushed their second half lead to nine two different times before SNU cut the deficit to 50-48 with 5:57 to play. The final five minutes was a defensive grind as neither team was giving an edge. Dunn buried a jumper to tie the game at 56-56 with 1:19 to play. After a defensive stop, Speight missed a layup but got the ball back on a jump ball with 20 seconds to play. SNU couldn't get the ball inbounds as they turned it over and OBU went down and got fouled to go to the line with 16 seconds left.

After converting 1-of-2 from the line, the Bison held a one-point lead and SNU had a chance. Dunn got a really good midrange look but the attempt fell short and so did Southern Nazarene's comeback as the Bison snapped the Storm's four-game winning streak and nine-game winning streak against OKBU.
 
Southern Nazarene will be back at home on Saturday afternoon as they host Southwestern Oklahoma State inside the Sawyer Center. Tipoff is scheduled for 3:00 p.m.