OBU men unable to weather top-seeded Crimson Storm

BARLTESVILLE, Okla. — Ouachita Baptist was unable to overcome a poor shooting performance in the first half Thursday as top-seeded Southern Nazarene avenged multiple previous early exits from the Great American Conference Men’s Basketball Championships.

Facing Ouachita (12-16) in the quarterfinals of the GAC tournament for the third straight year, Southern Nazarene (25-2) finally knocked off the Tigers as the top-seeded Crimson Storm registered an

80-66 victory on Thursday at Bruin Fieldhouse.

The Crimson Storm never trailed in advancing to the semifinals of the GAC Championships for the first time in program history. They built a

10-point lead midway through the opening period and never let Ouachita draw closer than

14 points in the second half. Ouachita was held to just 39 percent shooting on the night as Southern Nazarene made almost 60 percent of its shots from the field. Both teams battled as 26 fouls were called in the first. Ouachita made just 3 of 12, 25 percent, from the line, while Southern Nazarene made

14 of 19 for 73.7 percent.

The Crimson Storm raced out to a 14-5 lead in the opening five minutes of play. Southern Nazarene took its biggest lead in the first half at the 5:44 mark at 32-12. The Tigers scored eight straight to cut it to 32-20 with 3:24 in the first before the Storm took a 37-24 lead at the break.

The second half was more competitive as the Crimson Storm narrowly outscored the Tigers, 43-42. The Ouachita offense shot 41 percent from the field after halftime.

Jontavis Willis and Mahlon Martin were the only two Tigers to score in double figures

Southern Nazarene was led by 20 points from Noah Starkey, the GAC’s Defensive Player of the Year; 13 points from First-Team All-GAC Micah Speight; and 15 points from GAC Player of the Year Jhonathan Dunn.

No. 10 Southern Nazarene shot 55.8 percent from the field. The Crimson Storm went 25for-33 from the line for 75.8 percent.

Ouachita finished the regular season as the No. 8 seed with a 10-12 record in conference. Southern Nazarene was

21-1 in GAC play.