BETHANY, Okla. — Southern Nazarene Men's Basketball continued their win streak on Saturday after taking down Great American Conference leader, Arkansas Tech, handing the Wonder Boys their first loss in conference. 

The Storm (6-7, 3-5 GAC) had some struggles early in conference play this season, but have quickly turned things around as of late. Head Coach BJ Foster's squad erased a five-game losing skid on Thursday after taking down Harding and then channeled that momentum once more in their stunning of The Wonder Boys (11-3, 7-1 GAC) who had yet to lose a game prior to their trip to Bethany, but were soon surprised by a full team effort by the Storm. 

Southern Nazarene did a lot of their work from the free throw line, knocking down a total 23 of their 32 free throw attempts. The Storm also posted an above 45% shooting clip in both the field goal and three-point category, making it a successful day from the outside. 

Prepared for the tall task, SNU kept up with the Wonder Boys right from first tip. Exchanging the lead multiple times through the first half of the opening 20 minutes, Jaxon Edelmayer's three pointer changed the course of the half for the Storm, pushing his team ahead 22-19 while securing that lead for the remainder of the first half. SNU eventually shot up to a nine-point lead, courtesy of a few free throws from Jonas Visser and Ben Baker McCann and a huge triple from Benno Zecic. 

With just under seven minutes left before halftime, Southern Nazarene continued to pour in the points, four awarded to Tyrell Coleman and then a Baker-McCann long ball, allowing SNU to achieve their highest lead of the game at 36-23. SNU's lead was quickly challenged in the final few minutes of the first half, Tech outscoring the Storm 14-2 to creep back within just a single point at the break, 38-37. 

Zecic took no time stealing back the moment at the start of the second half, burying a three pointer on SNU's first possession. Cam Slaymaker decided to add to SNU's fire, knocking down a few free throws and a big-time long ball within the first five minutes to keep SNU ahead by six. ATU looked to find an edge, but Zecic was near unstoppable on the offensive end, making the Wonder Boys pay at the charity stripe while finding every angle to score. Arkansas Tech was able to bridge the gap at the 10-minute mark, sinking two free throws and throwing down a dunk to come within four points of the Storm. 

For the next few minutes, Southern Nazarene continued to pack on the points, but the Wonder Boys weren't backing down easily, answering every bucket SNU recorded to trail by just a few points. With under four minutes left, Visser went 2-2 at the line to bring SNU to a 74-66 lead, but that was soon chipped away by the Wonder Boys who hit back-to-back shots to trail 74-70 with 2:30 left on the game clock. A minute had gone by without a bucket from either team, but ATU broke the silence with two more free throws, now behind by just a field goal.

Southern Nazarene fought to keep their lead with the time trickling down, but Arkansas Tech found a lane opening and dropped in a layup to tie the game at 74-all with 1:13 remaining. The Wonder Boys resorted to foul with the small clock time left and Slaymaker knocked down two free throws to place SNU ahead 76-75 with 44 seconds remaining. The two possessions repeated with Arkansas Tech hitting a shot and then Slaymaker sinking in two more free throws to remain ahead by two with just 12 seconds left in the game. Southern Nazarene was hit with a chippy foul call and the Wonder Boys were only able to knock down one of two free throws at the line, behind 77-78. 

The Wonder Boys were unable to do anything with their last possession of the ballgame and Southern Nazarene claimed the incredible 78-77 final victory on their home floor. 

Slaymaker put on another offensive show with a team-high 20 points. Zecic was behind him with 19 points and six assists, one of the nations's best assist-per game rankings to this date.

Baker-Mcann poured in 14 points and 11 boards, SNU's only member with a double-double that evening. 

Up Next

SNU will look to continue this excellence streak as they will head back on the road to Southern Arkansas Thursday, January 18th at 7:30 p.m.