ARKADELPHIA, Ark. — Henderson State mounted a huge comeback on Thursday evening against No. 15 Southern Nazarene but came up just short in the final seconds and fell to the Crimson Storm 70-64 at the Duke Wells Center.

Chris Parker led the Reddies with 17 points and five 3-pointers, while Rel Johnson added 13 and Anthony Lupardus finished with 12.

It was a disastrous start for Henderson (12-7, 7-6) against the nation's No. 15 team as SNU (18-3, 11-2) came flying out of the gates and opened up a commanding 25-2 advantage just nine minutes into the game.

Facing an enormous deficit, the Reddies bench gave them life over the remainder of the half, with the likes of Jeremiah Toney, Raekwon Rogers, and Chris Owens providing a spark of energy and effort that helped HSU out-score the Crimson Storm 26-14 over the final 11 minutes to close the gap to 39-28 at the break.

The Reddies continued to hang around in the opening minutes of the second half. With Henderson trailing 50-36 at the 14:36 mark, the tide began to turn, as nine points from Lupardus and stifling defense helped HSU put together a 14-1 run to trim a once-23 point deficit to 51-50 with just under nine minutes to play.

It was a battle down the stretch, but Southern Nazarene never relinquished the lead despite Henderson twice cutting it to just one point. The Reddies used timely 3-pointers from Lupardus and Parker in the final moments to trim the SNU lead to 67-64 with 28 seconds left, but big free throws from Noah Starkey and Micah Speight finally helped the Crimson Storm put it away and hold on for a close win on the road.

After falling behind by 23 points, HSU out-scored No. 15 SNU 62-45 over the game's final 31 minutes. Henderson shot just under 53 percent from the 3-point line — its second-highest mark of the year from beyond the arc — and forced 18 Crimson Storm turnovers.

The Reddies return to the Duke Wells Center on Saturday when they face Oklahoma Baptist at 3 p.m.