WEATHERFORD, Okla.—Tyler McGhie knocked down two free throws with 2.3 seconds remaining in overtime to lift No. 11 Southern Nazarene to a thrilling 77-75 victory over Southwestern Oklahoma State on Saturday.
The Bulldogs forced overtime when Ben Smith scooted around
Maik Bouwer for a layup with one second left in regulation off a half-court pass from Mason Hart.
With the win, the Crimson Storm (25-3, 21-1) matched the 2017-18 squad for the best GAC conference record in the history of the GAC with a 21-1 record.
Based on the results around the GAC on Saturday, SNU will start their quest for a third conference tournament championship at 8 p.m. on Thursday at Firelake Arena in Shawnee, Okla. against No. 8 seed Ouachita Baptist. It will be the seventh time the two schools have faced each other in the GAC Tournament quarterfinals, with the last four taking place in the No. 1 vs. No. 8 matchup.
Following the free throws from McGhie, the Bulldogs went back to the Hart-to-Smith connection to try to force a second overtime, but Smith was unable to handle the pass cleanly and could not recover the loose ball before time expired.
McGhie led the Crimson Storm with 24 points and knocked down 5-of-8 three-pointers, his second consecutive game with five made triples.
Nick Davis added 16 points and seven rebounds, six of those on the offensive glass.
Javon Jackson scored 13 points, all in the second half and overtime, while also contributing seven rebounds and six assists. It was the second straight game with six assists for the freshman.
All eight players who saw the court for SNU on Saturday scored.
The game was played in a 12-point window, as neither team led by more than six points at any point in the game. The Crimson Storm took a 24-18 lead with 7:49 to play in the first half off a hook shot from Davis. The Bulldogs responded with an 8-0 run to take a 26-24 lead. SWOSU would not trail the rest of the half and took a 32-28 lead into the halftime break.
The teams exchanged the lead on multiple occasions in the second half, before an MJ Warrior 3-pointer with 2:05 left gave the Bulldogs a 61-59 lead. After Davis tied the score for SNU with a layup off an offensive rebound with 41 seconds left, the Crimson Storm forced a miss and Jackson retrieved the rebound. Jackson was fouled by Hart with 20.7 seconds left and hit both free throws for a 63-61 SNU lead.
After another SWOSU miss,
Manny Dixon was fouled for the Crimson Storm, but missed both free throws to set up Smith's game-tying bucket.
In overtime, both teams went 4-for-6 from the field, with all of Southern Nazarene's field goals coming from the 3-point line, including a go-ahead 3-pointer from McGhie with 32 seconds left. Kamden Gipson tied the score on the very next possession for the Bulldogs with a three-point play off a foul by Davis.
On the final SNU possession, McGhie was fouled by Gipson as the Bulldog senior tried to swipe the basketball.
Smith led the Bulldogs with 19 points and 12 rebounds while Chris Braggs Jr. chipped in 14 before fouling out with five minutes to play in regulation. Gipson had 11 points but was held to just 3-of-18 shooting by the Crimson Storm.
The Great American Conference Tournament will be broadcast on the GAC Network, which can be found on YouTube. You can also listen to the SNU audio broadcast of each game on the Crossover Radio Sports app, available in the Apple App Store and the Google Play Store.
