DALLAS—Despite a serious second half effort, Southern Nazarene fell 74-71 to Dallas Baptist on the road on Wednesday afternoon.

The Crimson Storm (2-2, 0-0 GAC) found themselves trailing by as many as 16 in the first half, but they battled back to within two points late in the game. Unfortunately for SNU, the first half deficit proved to be too much to overcome as DBU (3-3, 0-0 LSC) went on to take the game 74-71.

The contest was tight early in the first half, but a 17-4 over the final 10 minutes of the first half allowed the Patriots to open a 39-23 lead. Southern Nazarene cut that deficit to 39-26 heading into halftime on a late three from Manny Dixon. SNU struggled to slow down DBU's offense in the opening 20 minutes. The Patriots shot 15-of-24 (62.5%) from the floor, including 6-of-9 (66.7%) from deep. 

DBU's lead grew as high as 18 points in the second half, but the Storm rallied late and nearly stole the game away. They used a 23-7 run that included three Tyler McGhie triples, over a nine minute span, to bring the deficit to just two points with four and a half minutes remaining. Stamina finally caught up with SNU, though, as following their big run they allowed an 11-3 run to push DBU's lead back to double-digits.

The Storm still fought back to get within one possession. Trailing by three and five seconds remaining, they were left with one last ditch effort to tie the game and force overtime. SNU's attempt at a game-tying three was not to be, though, as the Storm fell in their final non-conference game before Great American Conference play.

Tyler McGhie was the leading scorer for SNU. He tallied 16 points and a pair of steals.

Adokiye Iyaye followed McGhie with 12 points and 6 rebounds.

Nick Davis and Xavier Bryant also reached double-figures with 10 points each. Davis also added 5 rebounds, while Bryant finished with 4 rebounds, 3 assists, and 2 steals.

SNU will hope to right the ship in their first GAC contest next Wednesday as the Storm host Southeastern Oklahoma State. SNU lost the two regular season games against Southeastern last year before defeating the Savage Storm 77-74 in the GAC Tournament semifinals. Tipoff is set for 7:30 p.m. inside the Sawyer Center, following the women's game.