BETHANY – After suffering its first loss in the Sawyer Center in over 400 days last Saturday, Southern Nazarene responded in a big way on Monday night, silencing Oklahoma Baptist 65-49 on their home floor.
The Crimson Storm (2-1, 2-1 GAC) needed a bounce back performance after struggling from the floor on Saturday and boy did they flip that switch. SNU buried a season-high 14 3-pointers after making a combined 11 in the first two games entering Monday night. The Bison (1-2, 1-1 GAC) sat in a 2-3 zone and the Storm fired 37 attempts from downtown, the most in a game for them since December of 2019.
Although SNU shot just 37.7 percent from the floor, they forced 15 Bison turnovers and played stifling defense, holding OBU to under 30 points for both halves. Junior guard
Manny Dixon had his best performance in a Storm uniform, as he was simply remarkable from the opening tip. Dixon scored a career-high 32 points on 10-of-15 shooting, and 8-of-11 shooting from 3-point territory. Dixon's eight triples are the second most 3-pointers made in a single game in SNU history. He also added five rebounds and three steals as well.
Junior
Adokiye Iyaye had another solid outing, racking up 14 points on 4-of-10 shooting and pulling down four rebounds and dishing out two assists.
Karlyn Kenner added eight points, four rebounds, and four assists, while
Nick Davis and
Maik Bouwer each chipped in four points.
Mo Wilson II played the orchestrator for the Storm offense as he tallied a career-high eight assists to go along with eight rebounds and a career-high five steals.
SNU and OBU split the rebounding battle at 32 apiece, but the Storm were able to haul in eight offensive boards. The biggest difference came from points off turnovers where SNU outscored the Bison 23-4 in that category. The Storm held OBU to 41.7 percent shooting and 7-of-23 (30.4%) from behind the arc. SNU also went to the line 14 times and converted 11 at the charity stripe.
Southern Nazarene's 3-point barrage arrived early in the Sawyer Center, as Iyaye knocked down a couple of triples in the opening minutes to give the Storm a quick 6-0 lead. The Bison tied the score at 8-8 before SNU ripped off a 17-4 run to give the Storm a 25-14 lead with 6:58 to play in the opening frame. OBU was able to claw their way back before Southern Nazarene took a 30-21 lead into the halftime break led by 19 points from Dixon.
The Crimson Storm didn't take their foot off the gas in the second half as a Bouwer layup gave head coach
Adam Bohac and company a 37-21 lead three minutes in. Oklahoma Baptist quickly responded with a 10-0 run to cut the Storm lead to six, before Dixon and Iyaye buried a couple more triples to push their lead back to 45-31 midway through the second frame. From there, the Storm's suffocating defense made it difficult for the Bison to get back in the game, as SNU took its largest lead of 21 in the waning minutes before cruising to the finish line.
Oklahoma Baptist was led in scoring by Jordan Thompson who finished with 14 points and was the only Bison scorer in double figures. Trey Green added eight points while Harrison Stoddart and Jarius Hicklen each added seven for OBU.
Southern Nazarene wraps up its final test of a three-game home stretch on Thursday night when they host Southwestern Oklahoma State. Tip-off is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. inside the Sawyer Center.
