MARYVILLE, Mo.—An unforgettable season for Southern Nazarene came to an end on Tuesday night in the Central Region Finals as the shots simply would not drop for the Crimson Storm, leading to a 62-52 defeat at the hands of Minnesota-Duluth.
Since joining DII in 2012-13, Southern Nazarene had never made it to the Central Region Championship game. That changed on Sunday when the Crimson Storm stunned the No. 2 team in the nation, Northwest Missouri State, to become one of the final 16 teams remaining in Division II. The Crimson Storm did so by shooting lights out, knocking down nearly 60% of their shots and nearly 55% shots from deep. Unfortunately for SNU, that hot shooting did not carry over to Tuesday as the Storm shot just 34% from the floor, and a season-low 22% from the outside.
Coming into the game, Minnesota Duluth (26-9) was averaging over 80 points per game and shooting nearly 50% from the floor. The Crimson Storm (27-5), who have prided themselves on defense all year long, once again did their job. They limited UMD to just 62 points on less than 39% shooting, but it was not enough. Duluth's perimeter shooting and work at the line proved to be the difference. They knocked down 9-of-20 (45%) of their shots from the outside, and made 19 of their 24 attempts at the line. On the other side, SNU made just 6-of-27 shots from the outside and just 2-of-5 from the charity stripe. The two made free throws was a season-low.
Despite struggling offensively, Southern Nazarene went into the half down just four points. They had some good looks to open the second half that would not fall and Duluth slowly expanded their lead. SNU did not score from the 13:32 mark of the second half until the 5:55 mark, allowing the Bulldogs to grow their advantage as high as 50-35. The Storm fought down the stretch, but were unable to cut the deficit any closer than nine points.
SNU struggled to slow down Duluth's Drew Blair. He scored 28 points and knocked down 5-of-8 shots from deep on his way to being named the Central Region Tournament MVP.
SNU's Javon Jackson and Nick Davis were named to the All-Tournament team. Jackson scored 18 points and dished out 5 assists on Tuesday. He averaged 20 points and 4.7 assists in SNU's three games. Davis scored 13 points and grabbed 5 rebounds on Tuesday and averaged 12 points and 7.3 rebounds during the tournament run.
Southern Nazarene can hang their hats on an incredible season that included winning the Great American Conference regular season by a record-setting six games, as well as picking up two NCAA tournament wins, something SNU had never done before.
"What we did this year was special," said senior Adokiye Iyaye. "What we've been working towards, from off-season workouts to 6 AMs [practices], all that. That goes a long ways, not just in basketball, in life."
This 2022-23 team finishes the season with the highest winning percentage the program has had since joining DII. The program sits in great position to make another run next season.
