NAMPA, Idaho - Louie Beech scored 11 second half points, providing a spark for the Northwest Nazarene University men's basketball team as they erased a 10-point halftime deficit to upset 24th-ranked Seattle Pacific University 87-72 on Saturday night in a Great Northwest Athletic Conference game in Nampa.

Beech teamed with Justin Parnell to hit three-straight three pointers in a pivotal 8-1 run in the second half that pushed a two-point Crusader advantage to 10 with 5:24 left to play.

"Louie had that look in his eye tonight in the second half," commented NNU head coach Tim Hills.  "He really keyed our second-half comeback and gave us a huge lift.  That's the way Louie was playing before he broke his hand in the pre-season, so to see him like that tonight was just great."

NNU trailed almost the entire first half and took a 31-41 deficit to the break, only to storm out of the locker room with a 17-7 run to tie the game at 48 with 15:09 left.  Tyler Roberts scored seven of his game-high 19 points in the decisive five-minute stretch.

NNU would take the lead for good on an Adam Shildmyer jumper in the paint to lead 56-55 with 11:50 to play, increasing the margin to as many as 16 in the final minute.

"We really focused on rebounding this week in practice," Hills added.  "We spent a lot of time working on rebounding and taking care of the basketball, two things we did very well tonight."

The Crusaders out-rebounded SPU 38-29 and committed a season-low eight turnovers.  SPU finished with 12 turnovers, but countered with 17 assists and six blocked shots.

Roberts led a group of five Crusaders in double-figures as Kendall Gielow scored 17, Scott Helpenstell had 13 points and six rebounds, Justin Parnell had 12 points and a game-high eight rebounds and Beech added 11.

SPU was led by senior post Rob Will's 16 points, with Rob Diederichs scoring 12 and Casey Reed adding 10.  Marques Echols started the game with a quick nine points, hitting three treys in the first 8:10 of the contest, however Echols played sparingly after a collision on a loose ball slowed the Falcons leading scorer.

The Crusaders improved to 11-3 overall and 3-2 in GNAC play, while the Falcons fall to an identical 11-3 overall and 3-2 in the conference.

NNU will stay home next weekend to face Saint Martin's University on Thursday and Western Oregon University on Saturday in a pair of GNAC counters at the Johnson Sports Center.

NNU Men's Basketball
1/19/08 7pm at Nampa,Idaho
At Nampa,Idaho
NORTHWEST NAZARENE 87, #24 SEATTLE PACIFIC 72
#24 SEATTLE PACIFIC (3-2 GNAC, 11-3)
Will,Rob 5-12 6-9 16; Diederichs,Rob 5-10 0-0 12; Reed,Casey 5-6 0-0 10;
Downs,Jeff 3-4 0-0 9; Echols,Marques 3-5 0-0 9; Jackson,Jojay 2-11 3-4 7;
Larrieu,Brandon 2-6 0-0 4; Moultrie,Jared 1-3 0-0 3; Banchero,Chris 1-5 0-0
2; Wardell,Adam 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 27-62 9-13 72.
NORTHWEST NAZARENE (3-2 GNAC, 11-3)
Roberts,Tyler 5-12 6-9 19; Gielow,Kendall 5-8 6-7 17; Helpenstell,Scott 4-6
5-6 13; Parnell,Justin 4-10 2-2 12; Beech,Louie 4-8 1-3 11; Ryman,Joel 2-6
4-4 9; Shildmyer,Adam 2-4 0-0 4; Barkdoll,Brian 0-0 2-2 2; Simmons,Jason 0-1
0-0 0; Burk,Tippy 0-0 0-0 0; Mgebroff,Matt 0-0 0-0 0; McGovert,Morgan 0-0
0-0 0; Grewe,Joe 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 26-55 26-33 87.
#24 Seattle Pacific...........   41   31  -   72
Northwest Nazarene............   31   56  -   87
3-point goals-#24 Seattle Pacific 9-25 (Downs,Jeff 3-3; Echols,Marques 3-5;
Diederichs,Rob 2-7; Moultrie,Jared 1-2; Larrieu,Brandon 0-3; Jackson,Jojay
0-4; Will,Rob 0-1), Northwest Nazarene 9-22 (Roberts,Tyler 3-7;
Parnell,Justin 2-5; Beech,Louie 2-3; Ryman,Joel 1-3; Gielow,Kendall 1-2;
Simmons,Jason 0-1; Shildmyer,Adam 0-1). Fouled out--#24 Seattle
Pacific-Moultrie,Jared, Northwest Nazarene-Gielow,Kendall. Rebounds-#24
Seattle Pacific 29 (Will,Rob 7), Northwest Nazarene 38 (Parnell,Justin 8).
Assists-#24 Seattle Pacific 17 (Echols,Marques 5), Northwest Nazarene 11
(Roberts,Tyler 3; Parnell,Justin 3). Total fouls-#24 Seattle Pacific 22,
Northwest Nazarene 13. A-871