DURANT, Okla. – Southern Nazarene moved to 2-0 on the road this season after taking down Southeastern Oklahoma State 68-60 on Saturday afternoon inside the Bloomer Sullivan Arena.
Road wins are never easy to come by, and after dropping two of their last three games on their home floor inside the Sawyer Center, the Crimson Storm (3-2, 3-2 GAC) picked up a pivotal victory against the Savage Storm (1-3, 1-3 GAC) in Durant. SNU's suffocating second-half defense combined with their 24 free-throw attempts in the second half was the difference maker for head coach
Adam Bohac and company.
The Crimson Storm shot 40.8 percent from the floor and knocked down 9-of-26 (34.6%) of their 3-point tries, while forcing 15 turnovers out of the Savage Storm. Southeastern shot the ball well on their home floor, posting a 44.4 percent clip from the field and burying 10-of-25 (40%) tries from downtown. SNU put their free-throw shooting woes from Thursday night behind them, as they knocked down 19-of-27 (70.4%) from the charity stripe while Southeastern shot 10-of-17 (58.8%) from the line. The Crimson Storm won the rebounding battle 35-27 and hauled in 10 offensive rebounds as well.
It was a very balanced scoring attack for Southern Nazarene as four finished in double figures with
Mo Wilson II leading the way. He finished with 16 points on 5-of-13 shooting as well as a 3-of-7 clip from behind the 3-point line. He also added six rebounds and two assists.
Karlyn Kenner scored a season-high 15 points on 4-of-9 from the field while also going 3-of-7 from downtown and adding three boards and a couple of steals.
Adokiye Iyaye and
Manny Dixon were also strong compliments as the duo each scored 14 points with Dixon pulling down a season-high eight rebounds and Iyaye going 9-of-10 from the free-throw line and dishing out a team-high four assists.
Maik Bouwer led the way on the glass for SNU with 11 rebounds, bringing his average to 14.5 boards per game over the last two contests.
Xavier Bryant came off the Crimson Storm bench to add six points and three rebounds while
Nick Davis chipped in two points and two rebounds.
Much like Thursday night in Bethany, Southern Nazarene got off to another strong start offensively. They jumped out to a quick 11-3 lead before later pushing it to 23-11. Both teams shot well in the opening 20 minutes as SNU posted a 43 percent shooting clip while Southeastern shot 50 percent. After holding a 12-point lead, the Savage Storm ripped off 14-1 run to take their first lead with 6:46 to go in the first half. After a back and forth final five minutes, SNU took a 33-30 lead into halftime.
After intermission, Southern Nazarene made it a priority to get aggressive with their offensive game plan. They forced the issue in the paint, getting the Savage Storm into foul trouble which resulted in 24 free-throw attempts in the final 20 minutes. After four ties and five lead changes, a Dixon jumper gave SNU a 55-49 lead with 4:03 to play. SNU's stifling defense made it tough down the stretch for Southeastern as they held the Savage Storm to 39.1 percent from the floor in the second half. After Southeastern hit a free-throw to cut the SNU lead to 58-53, a dagger 3-pointer from Wilson II gave the Crimson Storm a 61-53 lead with 1:48 to play. The Crimson Storm were able to knock down their free-throws down the stretch and close out Southeastern Oklahoma State to win their third GAC contest of the season.
Next up for Southern Nazarene is a trip to Ada next Thursday night to battle East Central. The Tigers won the first meeting of this season inside Sawyer 72-64 as the Crimson Storm will look to improve to 3-0 on the road this year. Tip-off is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. in Ada next Thursday night.
