Alva Review-Courier -

BETHANY - After trailing 15-10 with 9:34 to play in the first half, the No. 5/10 Southern Nazarene men's basketball team close the half on a 28-5 run and proceeded to outscore the Central Oklahoma Bronchos 83-48 throughout the rest of the contest en rout to a huge 93-63 win on Thursday evening at the Sawyer Center.

In a rivalry that dates back to 1972, it is the largest margin of victory ever, eclipsing a 97-72 triumph by the Crimson Storm on February 11, 1978.

Southern Nazarene shot 37 of 70 from the field (53%) and 10 of 27 (37%) from behind the arc. The Crimson Storm turned it up in the second half, shooting 21 of 35 (60%) from the field and connecting on seven of their 3-pointers. SNU held a 39-29 advantage on the boards and held a 22-11 advantage in assists. The Crimson Storm forced the Bronchos into 14 turnovers while holding a team that was averaging 101.0 pts/gm to only 37% from the field.

It was not the start SNU had planned.

An amped UCO squad got an alley-oop to start the contest and took advantage of turnovers and sloppy offense to build a 15-10 lead midway through. The Crimson Storm did a good job defensively in the first 10 minutes to keep the Bronchos from putting any distance between themselves.

A 3-pointer from senior RJ Palmer ignited a huge 16-0 which included a monster alley-oop from junior Micah Speight to fellow junior Jhonathan Dunn as well as a beautiful pass from Palmer to senior Noah Starkey in transition for a flush. The energy picked up, as well as the pace, and suddenly the Crimson Storm could not be stopped as they nearly tripled their point total in the final 10 minutes to take a 38-20 lead into the break.

Dunn scored 12 points in the first half while Starkey and Palmer took over down load to combine for 15 points.

In the second half, the Bronchos looked to find that run in the first five minutes to jump start a rally, but Southern Nazarene had other plans as they caught fire from the field in the second half and pushed their lead to 20 early on.

From there, it was a collective team effort as six individuals finished with double digit points and the rout was on as the Crimson Storm made it 19 straight wins at the Sawyer Center, knocking off their neighbors from Edmond by 30.

Dunn finished with 17 points on the night and four boards while Palmer hit career-highs in points with 15 and rebounds with 10, going 7 of 11 from the field. Starkey was 7 of 10 from the field for 14 points and five boards while Speight did a little bit of everything, going for 14 points, nine assists, six rebounds, and three steals.

Junior Logan Hicks and sophomore Ashton Charles each scored 12 points off the bench as they both connected on a trio of 3-pointers.

Jaylen Williams led UCO with 15 points while Adarius Avery had 14 points and rebounds.

Southern Nazarene goes to 3-0 for the second consecutive season and will keep the local rivalry trend going into Monday, as they welcome Oklahoma Christian into the Sawyer Center at 7 PM. The Eagles stunned SNU a year ago with a 76-69 win on their home floor, one of only two regular season losses for the Crimson Storm last season.