BETHANY, Okla. — Henderson State gave No. 12 Southern Nazarene all it could handle on Saturday and used a big comeback to take the lead down the stretch, but the Crimson Storm proved to be too much for 40 minutes, as they pulled away from the Reddies late to claim a 72-64 win at the Sawyer Center.

After trailing by 12 points at the break, the Reddies (11-10, 6-9) refused to go away in the second half and came roaring back with a 27-13 run, which helped them seize a 51-49 lead with just under seven minutes left in the game. SNU (18-1, 15-0) responded with six-straight points, four of which came on alley-oops, to regain a 55-51 lead and the energy in the building. Henderson continued to battle and cut the Crimson Storm lead down to just two points twice in the final five minutes, but the Reddies would never lead again, as SNU had an answer for every HSU push and gradually pulled away in the waning moments to remain unbeaten in conference play this season.

Kaylon Tappin led the Reddies with 18 points on 6-for-11 shooting, while Chris Parker added 16 points and was 14-of-14 at the free throw line on the afternoon. Matt Panaggio finished with eight points and six rebounds and Raekwon Rogers chipped in six points and eight rebounds for Henderson.

Henderson got off to a good start in the contest and battled its way to a 11-9 lead at the 13:23 mark of the first half behind seven early points from Tappin. However, SNU took control quickly and used a 27-13 run over the remainder of the period to take a 36-24 lead into the break before the Reddies mounted their big rally.

As a team, HSU out-rebounded the much bigger GAC-frontrunner 37-35 and finished 20-for-25 at the free throw line, but shot just 35.7 percent from the field in defeat.

The Reddies next game is Thursday at 7:30 p.m. at home against Southeastern Oklahoma State in the Duke Wells Center.