BARTLESVILLE, Okla. — Joshua Jones tied a season-high with 20 points, but No. 1 seed Southern Nazarene shot 55.2 percent from the field to defeat Henderson State 84-64 on Saturday evening in the Great American Conference semifinals.
It was SNU's night from the get-go on Saturday. With HSU up 9-8 six minutes into the game, the Crimson Storm caught fire, and knocked down their next six shots in a row — five of which were 3-pointers — to fuel a 15-2 run in the span of two minutes and charge in front, 26-11.
The Reddies refused to roll over, and answered with a 9-0 run of their own to slice the deficit to 26-20 with just under eight minutes to go until halftime, but SNU kept coming, and extended the lead back out to 39-28 at the break.
Henderson trimmed the lead down to six points again to start the second half, as buckets from Chris Parker and Mike Fofana brought the Reddies within 41-35. The Crimson Storm punched back, however, and responded with their second 15-2 run of the game to secure their biggest advantage of the contest, 56-37, with 12:50 remaining.
Facing a climb back, HSU continued to scrap, and cut the lead down to 12 points with under eight minutes to go on a bucket from Terrence Parker, but the Reddies never got any closer, as SNU gradually pulled away down the stretch to advance to the GAC title game.
The loss ends a remarkable season for the Reddies, who finished 19-11 — their best mark since 2006-07 — and bowed out a win away from the GAC championship game after being picked 11th in the league's preseason poll.
Jones was terrific and led Henderson with 20 points on 6-for-11 shooting in his final college game. No other Reddie was in double figures, but nine players etched their names into the scoring column on the night for HSU.
The Crimson Storm were 9-for-17 from the 3-point line in the game and shot a torrid 62.1 percent in the second half to snuff out Henderson's comeback attempt. SNU's shooting percentages for the game and from beyond the arc were the highest marks of any opponent all season against the Reddies.
HSU returns 12 players off of this year's roster in 2019-2020, including its three All-GAC selections.
