OKLAHOMA CITY – The Southern Nazarene men's basketball team traveled to Oklahoma Christian University for a game against the Northwestern State Rangers on Thursday night. The game was supposed to be held in the Sawyer Center, but with complications inside SNU's home gym because of the extreme cold weather, the location had to be moved. Despite the change in scenery, Southern Nazarene was still able to pull out the victory as they beat NWOSU 61-54. All of the SNU personnel thanked the Eagles for being gracious hosts.
The Crimson Storm (8-6, 8-6 GAC) forced Northwestern into tough shots all game as the Rangers (2-7, 2-7 GAC) only shot 17-48 (35.4%) from the field. SNU also forced 15 turnovers in the game and took advantage of them as they scored 16 points off of the Ranger giveaways.
Manny Dixon had a solid outing as he led the way in scoring with a game-high 15 points while collecting seven rebounds. Dixon was lethal from behind the 3-point line as he knocked down 3-of-7 from deep.
Nick Davis also had another great outing with 14 points and six rebounds while shooting an efficient 6-of-7 from the field.
Karlyn Kenner also starred for the Storm as he scored 12 points, pulled down five rebounds, and also scored seven of his points on free throws.
Adokiye Iyaye chipped in with 11 points and three rebounds as well.
The game started off very competitive as there were five ties and six lead changes in just the first half. Both teams shot well as SNU posted a 50 percent clip from the floor while the Rangers shot 45 percent. The Crimson Storm also played terrific defense in the first half as they forced 10 turnovers. Iyaye and Davis both had nine points to lead the Crimson Storm in scoring in the first half as Iyaye hit a two-point jumper with inside of a minute left to give SNU its biggest lead of the game so far. Head coach
Adam Bohac and company were able to take a 34-29 lead into the halftime break.
SNU started off the second half red hot as they built on their lead with an early 9-3 run. They used strong defense to extend their advantage as the Rangers trailed the Storm 45-32 with 17 minutes left in the game. In the first 14 minutes of the half, the SNU limited NWOSU to just 6-20 from the field. Dixon had a big second half as he scored 10 of his 15 points in the final 20 minutes. In spite of a late surge by the Rangers, SNU was able to sneak out with a win to move up in the GAC conference standings with the end of the regular season looming closer.
The Crimson Storm are back on the road this weekend as they travel to Ada this Saturday to battle the East Central Tigers (7-6, 7-6 GAC). Tip-off is scheduled for 4:00 p.m.
