BETHANY, Okla. — Southern Nazarene Men's Basketball debuted their 2023-2024 season Friday night in epic fashion, edging the University of Nebraska at Kearney in their homecoming game by a tie-ending bucket with just seconds left.
The Storm (1-0, 0-0 GAC) made themselves comfortable at the free throw line Friday night, going 24-35 from the charity stripe as opposed to the Lopers' (0-1, 0-0 MIAA) 10-14 performance. One of SNU's newest members, Cam Slaymaker, had the Sawyer Center on fire with his 26-point night, 15 of those coming from the first half.
The Lopers were quick to tack on the points right from first tip, outscoring SNU 11-2 to start the contest. A few Cam Slaymaker free throws allowed SNU to chip away at the deficit and they soon found themselves within four points at 15-11. Southern Nazarene found their sweet spot in the driving lanes, attacking the Loper defense to eventually close the gap to just two points. Junior Forward, Keeshawn Mason, led this front as he sunk in two back-to-back buckets to put the score at 17-15.
SNU nearly took the lead after an Eain Mowat three pointer, but the Lopers continued to stay the distance, sparked by an 8-0- scoring run midway through the half that pushed the Storm back nine points. In the next few possessions, the Storm had an answer for every Loper score, bringing the game back within one point at 35-34 with just a minute left on the clock. SNU's Tyrell Coleman tried to give SNU the lead just before the halftime buzzer but his long ball was off the mark and SNU went into the break behind UNK, 35-34.
The game became a scoring frenzy at the start of the second half with the teams trading points in eight consecutive possessions. The Lopers continued to widen the gap by just a few points, but SNU's ability to get to the free throw line allowed them to chip away at the deficit. UNK's offense gave the Storm some trouble for about two-minutes time and they eventually stretched their lead back to nine before the Storm would reorganize their defense.
Ben Baker-McCann's quick four free throws and Benno Zecic's jumper propelled the Storm to a three-point trail with a little over eight minutes left in the second half. SNU's offense continued to heat up, putting up a 7-0 run on the Lopers to reach their first lead of the half at 73-72. UNK fought to steal the lead and the teams experienced a few lead changes down the stretch. Zecic exploded for two quick field goals to give the Storm the three point edge at 81-78 with a minute and a half left in the game.
UNK snuck in a bucket and drew the foul for the three-point play, getting the free throw to go to knot the game up at 81. With 30 seconds on the clock, the Storm looked for a scoring opportunity and Zecic found it, putting in a fade-away jumper on the Lopers to give SNU the two-point lead with just 18 seconds remaining.
UNK took a timeout to plan their last possession, but SNU's defense put up a wall, denying the Loper three and eventually getting the clock to melt down for the 83-81 homecoming victory.
Beyond Slaymaker's 26-point night, he pulled down five boards and was 3-4 from beyond the arc.
Zecic was behind him with an impressive 15-point game and seven assists. Baker-McCann and Jonas Visser also recorded double-digit scoring with 10 and 11, respectively.
SNU's win marks not only their first of the season under new head coach BJ Foster, but this also records their third straight victory against the University of Nebraska at Kearney in series history.
Up Next
Southern Nazarene looks to continue this momentum as they host the University of North Texas at Dallas on Tuesday, November 14th at 7:00 p.m.
