BARTLESVILLE, Okla. – Southern Nazarene's quest for their Three-Peat at the GAC Championships in Bartlesville got off on the right foot as they ousted Ouachita Baptist 61-49 in the quarterfinals on Thursday evening.
Defense was the vocal point for the No. 1 seed Crimson Storm as they held the Tigers to just 21 points in the second half and a 31.5 percent shooting clip for the game. It was a tale of two halves for the SNU offense as they came out firing in the opening 20 minutes, shooting 57.1 percent from the field and knocking down seven triples. The Tigers held the Storm to just 28 percent shooting in the second half as SNU had to grind out the victory on the defensive end.
Micah Speight, the 2019 GAC Tournament MVP in Bartlesville, picked up right where he left off almost 365 days ago as he finished with a game-high 24 points on 8-of-15 shooting and 6-of-11 from behind the 3-point line. Speight also finished with six rebounds, six assists, and three steals.
Manny Dixon's first taste of the GAC Tournament left him with a good taste in his mouth as he came off the bench to score 10 points and pull down eight rebounds.
Jhonathan Dunn, the 2020 GAC Player of the Year, didn't have his best night offensively, finishing with just eight points on 2-of-7 shooting, but he added seven rebounds.
Tyler Williams chipped in six points while
Nick Davis tallied five. Ouachita forced 15 turnovers out of SNU while the Storm won the rebounding battle. The Tigers did most of their damage in the paint, scoring 24 of their 49 in the paint.
After a back-and-forth game in the first six minutes, a Speight triple gave Southern Nazarene a 22-13 advantage midway through the first half. Speight knocked down all six of this 3-pointers in the opening 20 minutes. SNU's lead ballooned to 18 at 38-20 after a Williams' triple with 3:42 to play, but the Tigers closed the final three minutes on an 8-0 run to cut the Storm lead to 38-28 heading into the break.
The Crimson Storm's offense couldn't get into rhythm in the second half but the SNU defense held Ouachita to 23 percent in the final 20 minutes. The Tigers cut the lead down to nine a couple of different times but head coach
Adam Bohac and company wouldn't let it get any closer than that. SNU turned up their defensive pressure as they held their opponent to under 50 points in Bartlesville for the first time since joining NCAA Division II.
Southern Nazarene will have Friday off as they await their opponent on Saturday. The Crimson Storm will face the winner of No. 4 seed Oklahoma Baptist and No. 5 seed East Central on Saturday at 12:00 p.m.
