BETHANY – What if I told you three years ago that Southern Nazarene was beginning to build a dynasty in the Great American Conference? The type of dynasty that would compile a 56-10 overall conference record on their way to three straight regular season titles in the GAC?
 
This dream became a reality on Saturday afternoon for the Crimson Storm (23-7, 17-5 GAC) as their 77-68 victory over Arkansas-Monticello completed the "Three Peat" for SNU. On Thursday night, they clinched a share of the regular season title, but this afternoon they won it OUTRIGHT. For the third consecutive season.
 
As for the game itself, it was all Southern Nazarene inside Sawyer on Senior Day as the Weevils (19-11, 11-11 GAC) never led in the contest. SNU put on a show in their final home game of the 2019-20 season as they shot 47 percent from the floor and forced 16 turnovers out of UAM. Seniors Jhonathan Dunn and Micah Speight went out with a bang on their home floor as the duo combined for 41 points as Dunn went for a game-high 24 while Speight settled for 17. The pair both lit it up from behind the 3-point arc as Dunn buried four triples while Speight added three. Dunn also finished with 10 rebounds, four assists, and three steals and Speight collected six assists, five rebounds, and one steal.
 
Ashton Charles had a big game for SNU as he scored nine points, five rebounds, and two blocks while Tyler Williams chipped in eight points, two rebounds, and two steals. Manny Dixon and Karlyn Kenner each added six points while Brady Mulkey added four in his final game inside Sawyer.
 
The Crimson Storm won the rebounding battle 31-26 for the game and dished out 14 assists in the game. The Weevils outscored SNU in the paint 36-26 but the Storm's eight offensive rebounds played in the difference in holding their lead.
 
Southern Nazarene quickly jumped out to 14-5 lead in the opening five minutes and didn't take their foot off the gas. Their strong defensive effort in the first half pushed their advantage to 25-14 with 5:45 left in the opening frame as they closed the half and took a 34-24 lead into the halftime break.
 
The second half saw Monticello refusing to go down without a fight as a couple of times they cut the SNU lead to six, and at one point four. The Weevils hit a jumper to make it 50-46 SNU lead, before head coach Adam Bohac and company got back in rhythm. A Kenner 3-pointer with 7:53 remaining pushed their lead back to 61-51 and it was all over from there. SNU cruised to their 13^th straight victory inside the Sawyer Center as the Storm clinched their third straight GAC regular season title.
 
Southern Nazarene will now head to Bartlesville next weekend for the GAC Championships as they are locked in as the No. 1 seed for the third straight year. They will battle the No. 8 seed Ouachita Baptist on Thursday night at 5:45 p.m.