NAMPA, Idaho - The Northwest Nazarene University men's basketball team claimed the 2007 Shilo Inn & Suites Classic title on Saturday night with a 77-71 victory over Colorado School of Mines at the Johnson Sports Center in Nampa.

The Crusaders, who improve to 5-0 and grab their second tournament title of the season, were led by Kendall Gielow and Tyler Roberts, Gielow scored a team-high 19 points and Roberts scored 15 and dished out six assists with just one turnover in 33 minutes. Scott Helpenstell scored 14 points and led the Crusaders on the glass with six rebounds. NNU was the only team to finish the four-team classic field with two victories.

"We beat a really good basketball team tonight," commented NNU coach Tim Hills. "They are well coached and run their stuff…We had to play great to beat them. Gielow and Roberts made great decisions all night and I thought Parnell did a tremendous job on (Kyle) Pape, making it hard for him to shake loose from behind the three-point line."

Kyle Pape paced the Orediggers (4-2) with 21 points on nine-of-16 shooting, however, he finished just one-for-six from the three-point line. Ben Mohr added 17 points and eight rebounds and Cameron Marshall finished with 13.

CSM out-rebounded the Crusaders 28-26, but the Crusaders held strong at the free throw line, hitting 19-of-22 from the stripe, compared to 10-of-15 for the Orediggers.

NNU will travel to Caldwell next weekend to play in the Wendy's Classic Tournament, hosted by The College of Idaho. The Crusaders will face Westmont College on Friday and Western Montana College on Saturday. Both games begin at 6 p.m. MST.

The Crusaders finished the Shilo Inn & Suites Classic as the only team to win both games. A feat they accomplished earlier this season at the Tarp It Wildcat Classic in Ellensburg, Wash. on opening weekend. CMS and Colorado Christian finished the Shilo Inn Classic at 1-1, while MSU Billings was 0-2.