SHAWNEE, Okla. – Southern Nazarene's epic tournament run came to an end on Sunday in the opposite way of how they had hoped, dropping to the No. 2 seed Arkansas Tech in the Championship Title game 72-57.
Despite the Wonder Boys (25-6, 18-4 GAC) earning the second seed in the GAC Tournament, they couldn't forget that two of their four regular season conference losses came from the Storm (16-14, 11-11 GAC). Arkansas Tech rewrote the story on Sunday, warding off Southern Nazarene late in the second half to claim the 2023-2024 GAC Tournament Champion Title. 12 SNU turnovers and 11 missed opportunities at the charity stripe were two key stats that contributed to the Storm's 15-point deficit, and Arkansas Tech scored 15 points off of those turnovers while shooting just under 50 percent from the field.
Southern Nazarene controlled a small lead for a majority of the first half, but their championship hopes slowly started to diminish as the Wonder Boys exploded for a 13-0 run in the first that gave them the boost they needed to finish the Storm off as the final buzzer sounded. Southern Nazarene has a lot to be proud of looking back on the 2023-2024 season as BJ Foster led them to the title game in his first season as head coach, while finishing 16-14 overall.
After the two teams exchanged buckets in the first four minutes of the contest,
Ben Baker-McCann ended the 7-7 tie with a dagger from deep, putting SNU in front by three. Slaymaker grew their lead to six with a three ball of his own and Baker-McCann followed with another long ball to push the Storm ahead 16-9, their largest lead of the contest thus far. A few possessions later,
Benno Zecic nailed one from beyond the arc to sprint ahead 19-11 with 11 minutes left before the break.
Arkansas Tech found a way to answer, exploding for a 13-0 run to steal back the lead at 31-23 with just under three minutes left on the clock. Slaymaker and
Keeshawn Mason teamed up for four points in the next two possessions to cut the gap to four. The Wonder Boys utilized a foul in the last 40 seconds to drop in two free throws for the 33-27 lead heading into the break.
Southern Nazarene looked to get back in their groove at the start of the second half, but the Wonder Boys snuck in an opening 7-0 lead to push ahead by 13. Baker-McCann and
Jonas Visser responded with back-to-back buckets to trail 40-29 with 17 minutes remaining in the contest. Both squads went at one another on the offensive end and Tech still controlled an 11-point lead with 12 minutes left on the game clock. Over the next three minutes, Southern Nazarene had an answer for every Wonder Boy point and Visser's layup brought SNU within 10 points at 54-44.
With eight minutes left, SNU put up a quick 5-0 run to bring the gap back to single digits at eight, but Arkansas Tech worked fast on the offensive end to push ahead by 10 with three minutes and 30 seconds remaining. As the time ticked down Southern Nazarene felt the pressure, now down 12 after a bucket and two free throws from the Wonder Boys.
Tyrell Coleman put SNU back within 10 points with 1:43 reading on the clock, but a costly foul sent Tech to the line where they sunk in both to achieve the 12-point gap again. A Storm turnover awarded the Wonder Boys another bucket and their lead quickly rose to 14 with only 46 seconds left in the contest. The two teams then traded trips to the line in the last few possessions of the contest, but the little time left was not enough for the Storm to come back and the Wonder Boys snatched the GAC Tournament Championship Title by a final score of 72-57.
This concludes the 2023-2024 season for SNU in BJ' Foster's first season. They finished 16-14 overall and 11-11 in conference.
