BETHANY, Okla.—Despite losing leading scorer, Adokiye Iyaye, in just the second minute of the game, Southern Nazarene came away with a 70-64 win after shooting the ball lights out in the second half.
The win was not without dramatics as a late 12 point lead for Southern Nazarene (3-1, 0-0 GAC) quickly evaporated into just a three point lead over Oklahoma Christian (1-4, 0-0 LSC). Friday's matchup with Drury saw the Storm put the Panthers away with excellent free throw shooting. That was certainly not the case on Tuesday, though, as SNU hit just 7-of-17 shots from the charity stripe in the second half, allowing the Eagles to hang in the game.
The first four minutes of the game went about as poorly as it could have for the Storm. They simply could not put the ball in the basket and fell behind 9-0. It was not until Eain Mowat was fouled on a three that SNU got on the board. Mowat calmly knocked down all three foul shots. Just seeing Mowat's shots fall through the basket seemed to be all the Storm needed as the offense took off from there. After starting 0-for-6 from the field, SNU knocked down five of their next six shots to quickly get back into the game.
The Crimson Storm grabbed their first lead of the game at 22-21 with just under 4 minutes play. They closed the first half on a 17-5 run, capping it off with a layin from Manny Dixon at the buzzer. SNU carried a 28-24 lead into the halftime break. They never trailed again as a quick 6-0 run to begin the second half extended their lead to double-digits.
After a goose egg from downtown in the first half, Southern Nazarene simply could not be stopped shooting in front of their own bench in the second half. They were propelled by seven made shots from deep, including a couple of timely makes as the shot clock expired, to build a double-digit lead.
Manny Dixon led all scorers with 17 in the game. He knocked down a pair of threes in the second half, while adding 4 rebounds and a pair of assists.
Not far behind Dixon was Lynn, who totaled 14 points on 3 big shots from the outside, while also adding 4 rebounds and a pair of assists.
Mo Wilson II and Xavier Bryant were also in double-figures. Wilson notched 13, while hauling in 6 boards and dishing out a pair of assists, while Bryant collected 10 points with 6 assists and a pair of rebounds.
The Storm have now posted back-to-back wins, but the non-conference slate stiffens up on them this Saturday as SNU prepares to host nationally ranked No. 25 Dallas Baptist. DBU and SNU have met just twice in history, including a matchup in Hawaii back in 2018, where Dallas Baptist came away with a very hard-fought 79-78 win over the Storm. SNU won the other matchup back in 2014. Tipoff with Dallas Baptist is set for 3:00 p.m. on Saturday inside the Sawyer Center.
