BETHANY, Okla. — Southern Nazarene Men's Basketball returned to the Sawyer Center Thursday evening to host rival Oklahoma Baptist, fending off the feisty Bison in the final moments to scrape up the gritty 77-67 victory.
Working to control a 21-point lead at halftime, the Storm's (11-11, 8-9 GAC) lead was tested in the final 20 minutes as the Bison (7-10,10-13 GAC) fought to close the gap to just two points throughout the last five minutes. Southern Nazarene felt the pressure and ran with it full force as the minutes trickled down, finishing off OBU with an 8-0 run that pushed them to the final 10-point home win.
Southern Nazarene ran all over the Bison in the opening half, amassing a 50% shooting clip while grabbing seven steals that helped turn into 11 points off turnovers. 22 of the Storm's 48 points in the first half all came from the paint and 12 of their 48 points came from the charity stripe alone.
Benno Zecic,
Jonas Visser, and
Ben Baker-McCann all worked together to break the Storm out on an 11-0 run. The Bison finally got on the board with a three ball, but Southern Nazarene managed to answer every one of their buckets from then on. Zecic knocked down back-to-back layups at the 12-minute mark to help put SNU ahead by 11, keeping the Storm's lead alive moving into the last 10 minutes of the first half.
The SNU bench perfected the art of keeping up the momentum as
Tyrell Coleman and Shawn Bathelemy came in with a few shots to push SNU's lead up to 13 with just under eight minutes remaining. SNU delivered a 9-0 run over the span of three minutes that propelled the to 20-point lead at 37-17 with four and a half minutes left in the half. The Bison were able to sneak in a few points with time remaining, but SNU's performance at the charity stripe was no match for Oklahoma Baptist in the final minutes and SNU went into halftime ahead 48-27.
The Bison came into the second half with a different approach, chipping away at their deficit to bring the gap to 12 points, six minutes into the half. At the 13-minute mark, the Bison made things interesting, turning their 21-point halftime trail to just 10 points after a huge corner three-pointer just before a media timeout.
The Storm worked to extend their lead back up to with points from Zecic and
Keeshawn Mason, but OBU did not go away easy, erasing four points off their gap to trail by nine just under eight minutes left in the contest. A few SNU turnovers and missed buckets proved to be costly in the final minutes, allowing Oklahoma Baptist to come within just five points of SNU, their smallest trail since the early going.
The Bison could not be stopped on the offensive end, drilling a three to bring the game within two points, putting even more pressure on SNU in the remaining five minutes. The teams traded points over the next three minutes with the Bison staying within a two-point gap. Southern Nazarene put in the work with the final minute left on the clock, starting with a game-changing three-ball from Zecic that put SNU ahead by five. After a missed opportunity from the Bison,
Shawn Barthelemy got to work on the offensive end and drew an and-one on OBU. Barthelemy awarded SNU with the three-point play and an eight-point lead with 40 seconds remaining.
Ben Baker-McCann decided to leave the Bison empty-handed in one of their final offensive possessions, picking up a steal and foul call to then knock down both shots at the charity stripe. With SNU ahead by 10 with seven seconds left on the clock, the damage had been done and Southern Nazarene fended off the scrappy Bison by a final 77-67 win on their home floor.
Zecic continued his impressive play with 24 points and five assists. Baker-McCann was awarded the double-double with 19 points and 12 boards while Visser chipped in 14 points and six boards.
Up Next
The Storm look to keep up the fire as they host East Central, Saturday, February 17th at 3 p.m. Southern Nazarene has already defeated the Tigers this season in Ada by 17 points.
