BETHANY, OKLA. – The East Central University men's basketball team moved its winning streak to seven games, with a 74-70 victory over Southern Nazarene at the Sawyer Center in Great American Conference action.

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The Tigers (19-6, 15-4 GAC) were led by senior Stirling Thomas, who tallied 24 points and three assists.  Junior Ishmael Donzo added 13 points and six rebounds, while sophomore Brett Cannon garnered 12.

The opening four minutes of the game was a tight battle, ending in a seven-all tie.  That is when the ECU pushed the momentum and used a 7-0 run to take the lead.  The Crimson Storm (1-14, 10-9 GAC) cut the deficit to on (14-13), with a 7-1 run of their own, but the Tigers countered with a 10-2 mark to lead 24-15, with eight minutes left on the clock.  ECU kept the advantage in its favor (between four and nine points) the rest of the half and went into the intermission with a 37-30 lead.

The Crimson Storm opened the second half with a 5-0 run to cut the deficit to two (37-35), but the Tigers countered with an 8-0 run to push the lead out to 10.  SNU would not go away quietly though and they put together a 10-0 run to tie the game at 45, with 11 minutes left to play.

The teams then traded runs and battled for the lead the rest of the half.  The Crimson Storm eventually got their first lead of the half (57-58), with just under three minutes to play.  Thomas hit a three on the next possession to put ECU back on top and after a 60-all tie, Thomas added five more straight points to give the Tigers a 65-60 lead with 45 seconds remaining.

SNU kept adding shots at their end to cut the deficit to three, but the Tigers made the most of their shots at the charity stripe in the final 30 seconds to keep pushing the lead back out to five. 

With just under 10 seconds left to play, the Crimson Storm hit a three to make things more interesting and ECU missed a free throw on the next play for a 72-69 advantage.  The Tigers were forced to foul, but SNU also missed a key free throw to keep the lead at two (72-70).

This time when ECU was sent to the charity stripe, Cannon sunk both shots to make it a two possession game to secure the win, 74-70.

The game was hard fought, with both teams earning key advantages.  While SNU hit more three's (8-11) then the Tigers, ECU went 22-of-25 from the free-throw line and only allowed the Crimson Storm to make nine trips (five makes).

The Tigers will now head home to the Kerr Activities Center for the final home game of the 2015-16 season, Saturday, Feb. 20 when they face Northwestern Oklahoma State at 3 p.m.