ARKADELPHIA, Ark. - Southern Nazarene Men's Basketball faced another tough loss on the road this week as they fell by a slim seven points to host Ouachita Baptist. 

It was another tale of two halves for The Storm (4-7, 1-5 GAC) as they trailed the Tigers (4-7,2-4 GAC) by just two points at halftime, also holding Ouachita Baptist to 37% shooting and out-rebounding the purple and white 25-15. The Tigers flipped the switch in the next 20 minutes, improving to 53% shooting while holding a large 15-point lead midway through the second half that SNU was never able to recover from. 

Sophomore guard Cam Slaymaker made quite the impact in Arkadelphia that afternoon, scoring a game-high 25 points and grabbing nine boards, nearly tacking on a double-double. Unfortunately, Slaymaker's performance was not enough to keep the Tigers quiet in the second half, allowing them to sneak away with the seven-point win. 

The first 20 minutes was a defensive standoff as just two points from Ouachita were the only points scored between either team in the first five minutes of action. Jonas Visser finally put his team on the scoreboard with a floater, just in time for another offensive stalemate that ate up another three minutes on the first half clock. From the 15-minute mark, a combined five points were scored before either team could get any sort of offensive momentum going. 

Going back and forth early in the contest, Ouachita Baptist was able to pull away slightly by six points at 20-14 with a little over five minutes left in half one. The Storm were quick to cut that lead back down to two with the help of a huge Slaymaker long ball found by Benno Zecic. The Tigers continued to find ways to make SNU pay on the defensive end, but Ben Baker-McCann sunk in two free throws and a bucket just before the halftime buzzer, helping his team trail the Tigers 26-28 at the break. 

The Storm remained on the Tigers' tail for the early going of the second half until a quick 6-0 run allowed OBU to sneak up to an 11-point lead with just under 15 minutes left on the clock. More solid offense on the Tigers' end of the floor pushed them up to their largest lead of 15 points, 51-36. Slaymaker quickly caught a burst and gave the Storm seven unanswered points by himself to push SNU back up to an eight-point trail. 

The Tigers made a few adjustments to reclaim their double-digit lead moving past the 10-minute mark, but numerous free throws allowed SNU to stay at arm's reach. Slaymaker found himself at the line a few times late in the half, helping SNU back down to a 8-point trail with just under six minutes left to play. Just when SNU sensed their chance at a comeback, The Tigers slashed two threes and sank in a few free throws to dig SNU a deeper hole with little time on the clock.

With under a minute to play and down by six, the Storm fought for an edge, but Tigers went 6-6 from their last trips at the line, ultimately claiming the 73-66 victory on their home floor. 

Up Next

Southern Nazarene will return to Bethany next week for two conference home games, starting with Harding Thursday, January 11th at 7:30 p.m.