ARKADELPHIA, Ark. — Henderson State hit a school-record 16 3-pointers and used stifling defense on two of the conference's best players to defeat two-time defending GAC champion Southern Nazarene 74-55 on Saturday in the Duke Wells Center.

It was a dream start for the Reddies (9-3, 4-2) as they jumped out to a quick 12-2 lead behind six early points from Chris Parker. SNU closed the gap to 15-9, but three-straight 3-pointers from Chris Owens swung momentum back in HSU's favor and gave the Reddies a 21-9 advantage at the 9:09 mark.

The lead only grew from there for Henderson, as back-to-back threes from Tanner Hamilton minutes later lifted the Reddies to their largest lead of the game at that point, 35-18. The Crimson Storm used a 4-0 spurt to cut into the deficit before the half, but HSU took a comfortable 13-point cushion into the break. HSU was 9-of-14 from 3-point range in the first period and held SNU to 28% shooting from the floor.

Things continued to roll HSU's way to start the second 20 minutes of play. Leading 48-32, the Reddies got a 3-pointer from Anthony Lupardus, a huge dunk from Jeremiah Toney and another 3-pointer from Rel Johnson to seize a 56-32 advantage with 9:14 remaining. The result was a formality from that point on, as SNU never trimmed the lead below 18 points again and Henderson cruised to its biggest victory of the season.

Only two Reddies finished in double figures — Parker with 14 points and Owens with 12 — but 10 different players scored and eight scored six points or more for Henderson. HSU shot a torrid 16-of-26 (61.5%) from beyond the arc for the game and nearly hit as many 3-pointers as the Crimson Storm did shots from the floor (17). Henderson had previously broken the school record for made 3-pointers twice this season with 15 against both Paul Quinn and Texas College.

While the offense led the way for HSU, the defense proved spectacular in its own right, as the Reddies held two of the GAC's best players, Jhonathan Dunn and Micah Speight, to a combined 9-for-33 shooting from the field. Dunn, who was third in all of NCAA DII in scoring with an average of 28.2 points per game coming into the contest, was held to just 21 and was 6-of-18 from the floor. As a team, SNU shot just 30.4% on Saturday and was held to a season-low 55 points. The Crimson Storm's previous season-low for points in a game was 67 in a win over No. 15 Northern State.

Henderson returns to action next Thursday, Jan. 9, when it travels to Alva, Oklahoma to face Northwestern Oklahoma State at 7:30 p.m.