BETHANY, Okla. — Henderson State fell behind big early on Saturday to Southern Nazarene and then nearly erased it all with a furious late rally, but time ran out on the Reddies' comeback as SNU held on to win it 85-74 at the Sawyer Center.

The Reddies (10-3, 5-2) had five players score in double figures on the day, including Blu Jones, who led the way with 16 points, as well as Lani Snowden, who finished with 14 on 4-for-4 shooting from the 3-point line. The loss snaps a six-game conference winning streak on the road in Oklahoma for HSU.

SNU led 18-12 through 10 minutes, but after a 3-pointer from Hailey Estes trimmed the deficit to 18-15 in the opening seconds of the second quarter, things got away from the Reddies. The Crimson Storm unleashed a flurry a 3-pointers to jumpstart a 32-15 run over the remainder of the half and took a 50-30 lead into the locker room. Fouls hurt the Reddies badly in the quarter — SNU was in the double bonus for more than eight-and-a-half minutes and shot 18 free throws in the period.

Facing a 20-point hole to open the second half, Henderson scored the first four points in the third to trim the SNU lead down to 16, but the Crimson Storm responded with a quick 10-0 run to open up their biggest lead of the day, 60-34, with 6:37 to go in the period.

The Reddies did their best to slowly claw back into it over the remainder of the game and trimmed what was once a 26-point deficit down to 77-70 with just under two minutes to play with the help of a ferocious press defense and some SNU missed free throws. Henderson, however, ran out of time down the stretch, as the Crimson Storm held on late for the win.

Henderson out-scored SNU by nine in the second half but SNU shot 51.9 percent from the floor on the day, including a mark of 63.6 percent in the pivotal second quarter. 

HSU will look to rebound on Thursday, Jan. 10 when the Reddies take on Northwestern Oklahoma State at 5:30 p.m. at the Duke Wells Center.