FORT SMITH, Arkansas – Southern Nazarene and Harding grabbed the final two slots for the 2026 Great American Conference Men’s Basketball Championship semifinals as both the Crimson Storm and Bisons won in convincing fashion on Friday from Northside Grizzlies Arena.
The Crimson Storm opened the day with an 89-65 win against East Central. Harding bested Southeastern Oklahoma State, 77-59. These two wins, combined with Thursday victories by Oklahoma Baptist and Ouachita Baptist, meant the top four seeds all advanced for just the third time in the 15-year history of the event. Previously, it occurred in 2020 and 2024.
Southern Nazarene (22-7) closed the first on a 16-0 run to carry a 41-30 advantage into halftime. After shooting an impressive 55.2 percent in the first half, the Crimson Storm hit 21-of-32 shots in the second half, a torrid 65.6 percent clip. For the game, they shot 60.7 percent and made 11-of-22 3-point tries.
All four Crimson Storm players to reach double figures - Joe Mpoyo, Tracy Godfrey, Jr., Malik Edwards and Baron Bracey - made at least half of their shots. Godfrey. Jr. went a perfect 7-for-7 from the floor - the second most makes without a miss in GAC Championship history. In addition to his 14 points, he grabbed a team-high seven rebounds.
Mpoyo paced the Crimson Storm with 21 points. He connected on 5-of-9 3-point attempts. Edwards made 4-of-5 from the 3-point arc and 5-of-7 overall as part of his 14-point day. Bracey, a First-Team All-GAC selection, also scored 14 points. He added five rebounds and three assists. For the Tigers (15-14), Brandon Matt netted a team-high 15 points on 7-of-9 shooting.
With the win, the Crimson Storm advanced to the semifinals for the third-straight year. Southern Nazarene will square off with top-seeded Oklahoma Baptist at noon on Saturday in a meeting between two of the Central Region’s top-10 teams. The Bison entered the week in second while the Crimson Storm claimed 10th.
In the day’s second game, the defending champion Bisons (22-7) used a 14-0 second-half run to dispatch of the Savage Storm (9-20). Leading 51-48 midway through the second half, Harding kept Southeastern Oklahoma State scoreless for more than four minutes as part of the decisive run.
Reggie Webster, the GAC Freshman of the Year, led four Bisons in double figures with 17 points. He hit 7-of-11 shots. Thompson Camara contributed 15 and Marko Rangan added 13 off the bench. Wesley Booker scored 10 and grabbed nine rebounds. For Southeastern, Ethan Wilkerson went 10-for-17 en route to a game-high 26 points.
The Bisons controlled the glass as they outrebounded the Savage Storm by 13. They limited Southeastern to just four offensive rebounds. Conversely, Harding converted 12 offensive rebounds into 18 points.
Harding will take on Ouachita Baptist in Saturday’s second semifinal, slated for 2:15 p.m. Like the day’s first contest, both the Bisons and Tigers appeared in the top 10 of the final Central Region rankings. Ouachita owned the sixth position while the Bisons checked in at No. 9. During the regular season, each team won on their home floor. As part of their title run a season ago, the Bisons, also seeded third, defeated the Tigers, also the second seed, in the semifinal round.