OKLAHOMA CITY (Nov. 30, 2019) – Oklahoma Christian executed its game plan Saturday afternoon against Southern Nazarene quite well for 30 minutes – then SNU guard Micah Speight essentially blew it up.

Speight scored 19 of his 26 points and hit five of his six 3-pointers after halftime, giving the Crimson Storm a bit of separation, and they held on for a 70-62 win over OC in the Eagles' Nest in the annual basketball game between the local archrivals.

Sixteen turnovers proved to be the Eagles' undoing, but coach Kendre Talley said his team did a lot of things right against one of the elite teams on the OC schedule.

"We prepared this week and put a really good game plan together and we executed it," Talley said. "Micah is a big-time player. I've known him since he was in high school. He stepped up and made some big-time shots. But overall, I think we did what we wanted to do defensively and we did a good job.

"What we did was turn the ball over, and the type of turnovers that they were were leading to buckets. It wasn't a travel or a charge, it was passing turnovers that led to some pretty easy buckets for them."

SNU (6-3) has been a perennial top-25 squad in NCAA Division II the past two seasons and began this season in the national polls before a couple of tough early season losses dropped the Storm out. But they still remain formidable, entering the game with an 84.1-point scoring average, led by the backcourt pair of Speight (20.8 points per game) and Jhonathan Dunn (28.9 ppg).

OC (2-4) successfully limited Dunn, holding him to nine points with a solid, active zone defense, and the Eagles controlled the clock by running a patient offense, rarely shooting before the shot clock was under 10 seconds. That helped keep the score low, and close.

For the game's first 31 minutes, no more than four points separated the teams. SNU led 27-26 at halftime, but the Eagles led on several occasions, the last time at 40-38 on a dunk by Marcus Blackwell with 12:27 left. OC tied the game at 46-46 on a 15-foot jumper by Dedrian Parmer Jr. with 9:48 left.

Speight – who also had five steals and five assists – keyed an 8-0 run by the Storm with a 3-pointer with 8:57 left and a steal and layup that put SNU up 54-46 with 7:50 left. After a three-point play by Parmer, Speight hit another 3-pointer to start a 7-0 spurt by the Storm, giving them their biggest lead to that point at 61-49 with 4:29 left.

OC never really recovered. The Eagles were just 1 of 8 from 3-point range until Johnatan Reyes-Valdez hit a pair from beyond the arc in the final 41 seconds.

"You've got to give credit to (SNU)," Talley said. "What we did game-plan-wise made the game look ugly and got them out of their comfort zone a little bit. That's what I'm most proud about is the game-planning and the execution defensively to hang in there. If we make the right decision on a few other plays, then we do have a shot to win the game."

Parmer led OC with 16 points, seven rebounds and two blocked shots, while point guard Anthony Johnson scored 12 points. Outside of Speight, only one SNU player reached double figures in points – Manny Dixon with 14 – although Morris Wilson Jr. had nine points, nine rebounds and five assists for the Storm.

The remainder of OC's 20 regular-season games will be against Lone Star Conference foes, starting Dec. 14, when the Eagles will host division rival Arkansas-Fort Smith.

"Every game in this conference is going to be tough," Talley said. "I told the guys, we've got a full schedule of tough D2 (opponents), so we've just got to keep preparing for it."

Kendre Talley discusses the game: https://youtu.be/XtPC0qMarz0