BETHANY, Okla.—Southern Arkansas came into the Sawyer Center with hopes of earning a share of first place with Southern Nazarene in the Great American Conference standings, but those hopes were quickly dashed as SNU earned another dominant 77-53 win over the Muleriders on Saturday afternoon.
Southern Nazarene (16-3, 12-1 GAC) was in control throughout the entire game. After allowing a Southern Arkansas (14-5, 10-3 GAC) bucket to open the game, SNU responded with a Eain Mowat triple, followed by a Tyler McGhie triple. The Crimson Storm never trailed again in the game.
SNU continued to expand the lead through the first 10 minutes of the game as their advantage climbed all the way to 23-5. The Muleriders did not go away that easily, though. They put their own rally together that trimmed an 18 point deficit all the way down to just five points with a minute to play until halftime. The Storm pushed the lead back to 10 at halftime after Mowat was fouled shooting a three with just two seconds left on the clock. He drilled all three attempts at the line, leaving the score 36-26 at the break.
The Muleriders never threatened in the second half. The Crimson Storm grew the lead as high as 29 points in the second half and were once again in a position to clear the bench in the final few minutes of the contest as SNU stormed to a 24 point win over the Great American Conference's second place team.
McGhie was a man on a mission in the game, scoring 27 points. It was his fourth 20-point outing this season, and he reached double-figure scoring in all three games this week. He was also a perfect 10-for-10 from the line on Saturday. He is shooting just under 90% from the line this season at 89.6%.
Nick Davis was the other Crimson Storm player in double-figures, also reaching that mark in all three games this week. He scored 15 points on 7-of-8 shooting to go along with his 7 rebounds.
Javon Jackson and Adokiye Iyaye each added 8 points for the Storm.
The Crimson Storm now sit two games clear of the rest of the conference at the top of the GAC standings. They have won 14 of their past 15 games, including four straight wins by at least 14 points, and six straight wins overall. SNU ranks 17th in all of DII with an average margin of victory of 14 points. That is helped tremendously by the top scoring defense in the nation as the Storm reclaimed the top spot in that category with another tremendous showing on Saturday.
With just nine games left on the schedule, Southern Nazarene will look to inch a little closer to their fourth GAC regular season championship.
After four games in just an eight-day span, SNU will finally have a chance to rest their legs as they will return to action next Thursday, February 2 in Arkadelphia. SNU will meet Henderson State first, before batting Ouachita Baptist on Saturday at 3:00 p.m. The Storm defeated both teams in Bethany back in early January. Tipoff with Henderson State is set for 7:30 p.m. on Thursday night in Arkadelphia, following the women's game.
