BETHANY, Okla.—No. 17 Southern Nazarene notched their ninth consecutive win as they blew past Harding 90-62 in a battle of two teams at opposite ends of the Great American Conference standings.
The Crimson Storm (19-3, 15-1 GAC) were stroking the net all night long, leading to an incredible 66.7% shooting, which included knocking down 17-of-27 (63%) shots from deep. The 17 made threes was the most by Southern Nazarene since also hitting 17 against Harding back in January 2020. SNU now ranks third in all of DII in three-point percentage at 41.2% per game. The game was also the Storm's second game this season shooting over 65%.
Harding (5-17, 1-15 GAC) put up a fight early on, but simply could not keep up with Southern Nazarene's offense. The Bisons found themselves within three points at the 5:41 mark of the first half, but the Crimson Storm closed the half on a 16-5 run to take a comfortable 48-34 lead into halftime.
The second half was more of the same for the Storm offense. After connecting on eight treys in the first half, they knocked down nine more in the second half, including one from Manny Dixon, who saw his first action since early December. Just as they did in the first half, Southern Nazarene outscored Harding by 14 points in the second half to earn a 28 point victory over the Bisons.
Most of the damage from the outside came from Tyler McGhie and Adokiye Iyaye, who each seemed to knock down shots at will. McGhie finished 6-for-7 from deep on his way to 22 points, while Iyaye drained 5 of his 7 attempts from deep for 15 points.
Javon Jackson reached the 20-point mark for the second straight game, following up his 23 point performance at Ouachita Baptist with 21 more on Thursday night. He also dished out 5 assists.
Nick Davis added 17 points and 7 boards.
The win marked Southern Nazarene's tenth victory at home this season as they remain perfect inside the Sawyer Center. SNU has won 12 straight home games overall, dating back to last season.
Currently ranked No. 17 in the NABC Coaches Poll and up two games on second place in the Great American Conference standings, Southern Nazarene will have an opportunity to continue building their resume on Saturday. The Storm will look for revenge over Arkansas Tech, who stole a victory from SNU in Russellville earlier this season for SNU's lone GAC loss. The Storm let a late eight-point lead slip away in that game as they did not score in the final three minutes.
SNU's magic number to clinch a Great American Conference regular season championship is five games. Tip-off with the Wonder Boys is set for 3:00 p.m. on Saturday inside the Sawyer Center.
