BETHANY, Okla.—Southern Nazarene's eight game winning streak seemed all but over on Saturday afternoon, but an incredible comeback over the final two and a half minutes led to overtime where the Storm came out on top 76-71 over Ouachita Baptist.
The Crimson Storm (13-5, 8-4 GAC) trailed by as many as 12 points in the second half, and trailed by nine points with under three minutes remaining, but a 9-0 run to close out the second half sent the Sawyer Center into a frenzy as SNU forced Ouachita (4-15, 2-11 GAC) into overtime.
SNU had to overcome an incredible shooting day from Ouachita, who was shooting nearly 70% from the floor midway through the second half. The Storm defense clamped down over the final five minutes of the second half and overtime as Ouachita's percentage dropped to 54.7% (29-of-53) for the game.
Offensively it was a slow start for the Storm, who seemingly could not buy a basket. Southern Nazarene would eventually find themselves trailing 11-5. The offense finally picked up from there, though, leading to a 14-4 run that gave the Storm a 19-15 lead. That lead would grow to six before settling for a 33-31 halftime advantage.
The Tiger offense came out blazing in the second half. After missing their first look of the half, Ouachita went on a string of nine consecutive field goals made, including three shots from deep. This hot streak would help Ouachita build a 12 point lead, their biggest lead of the game.
That lead would be cut to five with seven minutes remaining but Ouachita quickly pushed it back to 10 with six minutes to go. Despite the double-digit deficit, SNU stayed calm and continued to run their offense. Not much ground was gained over the next few minutes, though, as the deficit still sat at 63-54 with 2:45 on the clock. But from there, Ouachita went cold and everything seemingly went the Storm's way.
Of SNU's nine points over the final two and a half minutes, seven came via Tyler Mcghie, who had just four points prior to that stretch. McGhie would come up clutch with a pair of free throws and a three ball a minute later that cut the Tiger lead to just two points. Two possessions later, McGhie found himself with the ball on the right wing and a chance to tie the game. McGhie smoothly took a couple dribbles inside the line and quickly stepped back and drilled the fade away to tie the game at 63 with just 11 seconds remaining. Great defense from the Storm would then force a bad look from Ouachita and lead to overtime.
It was just a brief moment that SNU trailed in overtime. Following a Ouachita free throw, Nick Davis put the hammer down on the Tigers with a monstrous dunk that gave the Storm their first lead since the 17 minute mark of the second half. The Storm never trailed again as they went a perfect 4-of-4 from the field in overtime and closed the Tigers out with two more McGhie free throws. McGhie finished the day with 15 points, 11 of which came in the final two and a half minutes of regulation and overtime.
Nick Davis was the leading scorer on the day for SNU, nearly coming away with a double-double as he tallied 18 points and 8 rebounds.
Manny Dixon and Adokiye Iyaye also notched double-figures, totaling 11 and 10 points, respectively.
The win extends the SNU winning streak to nine games, their longest since an 18 game streak back in the 2017-18 season. SNU will look to extend that winning streak to double-digits on Monday against Arkansas Tech before a potential GAC deciding weekend next Thursday and Saturday against Oklahoma Baptist and Southeastern Oklahoma State. Monday's game against Arkansas Tech is a remake of the Jan. 6 postponement and is set for 5:30 p.m. inside the Sawyer Center.
