BETHANY, Okla.—Southern Nazarene received a scare from Southwestern Oklahoma State on Saturday afternoon as they were forced into an extra five minutes of basketball, but the Crimson Storm prevailed 71-63 in overtime. The win pushes SNU's winning streak to five games.
Southern Nazarene (7-2, 4-0 GAC) got off to a fast start as they scored the first 11 points of the game and opened up a 17-4 lead, but things quickly changed. Southwestern (5-5, 1-3 GAC) suddenly got hot from the field and SNU struggled finding the basket. After knocking down three shots from beyond the arc in the opening seven minutes of action, SNU hit just four the remainder of the game. They finished the game 9-for-32 (28.1%) from the outside. From the floor, they shot a season low 35.8%. Their previous low was 42.4% in a loss at Dallas Baptist.
Despite the offensive struggles, Southern Nazarene continued to play strong defense to keep themselves in the game. They limited SWOSU to 36.8% shooting and forced them into 20 turnovers. This led to 13 points off of turnovers for the Crimson Storm.
The game was tight all throughout the second half. SNU's largest lead of the half came early at 34-28, while SWOSU's largest lead was just 51-48 with a little over five minutes remaining. SNU retook the lead a couple of minutes later when Xavier Bryant went coast-to-coast for the go-ahead layup after intercepting a pass along the baseline. The lead changed hands four times over the final three minutes. After SWOSU regained an advantage, Nick Davis put SNU back in front, but SNU fouled a three-pointer shooter on the following possession, allowing the Bulldogs an opportunity to regain the lead.
SWOSU's Kamden Gipson made two of his three attempts at the line to push the Bulldogs back in front 55-54. More free throws came on SNU's end as a foul left Nick Davis at the line, where he split the free throws to tie the game. With less than 30 seconds on the clock, Southwestern played for the final shot, but the Storm defense stayed strong, forcing the miss and sending the game to overtime.
The game stayed tight through the early portions of overtime, but a big Tyler McGhie three pushed the Crimson Storm lead to four points with less than two minutes to play. Southwestern could never find another bucket and SNU free throws continued to extend the Storm lead to its final tally at 71-63.
Nick Davis put together his best performance of the season as he notched his first double-double of the year with a career-high 22 points and 11 rebounds. He was also extremely active on the defensive end with 3 blocks and a pair of steals.
Javon Jackson continues to make noise in his first college season. He added another 21 points in the game, while also hauling in a season-high 9 rebounds. In his three starts this season, he is averaging over 20 points and 6 rebounds per game.
Tyler McGhie poured in 16 points and 6 boards. He stretched out the defense by knocking down 4 shots from deep in the game.
Xavier Bryant was active all game with 9 points, 3 rebounds, 2 assists, and 4 steals.
For Southern Nazarene, they finished the first semester of Great American Conference play unbeaten. They join the SNU women at 4-0 in conference play, becoming the only GAC school left unbeaten on both the men's and women's side. The Storm still have one non conference game left to play before the break as they host William Jewell on Monday. The two teams have never met. William Jewell comes in at 6-6 for the season. Tipoff is set for 7:00 p.m. inside the Sawyer Center.
