NAMPA – Justin Parnell scored a season and game-high 26 points to lead the Northwest Nazarene University men's basketball team past Montana State Billings 90-77 on Saturday night in a Great Northwest Athletic Conference game in front of 1,513 fans at the Johnson Sports Center.

Parnell's 26 led four Crusaders into double-digits and improved NNU to 7-4 in league play and 15-5 overall.  Joel Ryman added 20, Jason Simmons netted a season-high 17 and Louie Beech had 11.

“Parnell is really playing like an all-conference player right now,” commented NNU head coach Tim Hills.  “His knee feels good and he's a real force.  Kendall (Gielow) had an off night tonight and Justin really stepped up and took charge.”

Ryman scored 17 of his 20 points during a three minute and 55 second outburst in the first half.  NNU trailed 42-40 with 4:30 left in the period when Ryman hit the first of his five treys.  He followed with a lay-in and four more triples, ending with a jumper from the right wing to give the Crusaders a seven-point lead at 56-49 with 35 seconds left in the half.  A lead they would not relinquish, leading by as many as 15 late in the second half.

“Joel was awesome in the first half tonight,” Hills added.  “He heated up and the kids did a great job of finding him for open looks.”

The Yellowjackets (1-10 GNAC, 1-21) were led by Kyle Palmer's 20 points and five assists.  John Brooks scored 18, Brett Taylor added 11 and both Tyler Hentzen and Cameron Khoury had 10.

MSUB shot an impressive 58.1-percent (18-31) in the first half, but the Crusaders held the visitors to just 25 second half points, with the 'Jackets finishing at 45-percent (27-60) shooting for the game.

“I thought Jason Simmons was a key for us in the paint…he can score against most post players and tonight he was patient, took good shots and drew two offensive fouls on the defensive end of the floor,” added Hills.

The Crusaders were steady from the floor, going 30-for-61 on the night and making all 18 of their free throw attempts.  With tonight's 18 straight, the Crusaders have now tied the school record from 1992-93 for most consecutive free throws with 27 in a row, having made the last nine against Seattle University on Thursday.

NNU will travel to Washington next Saturday to face Seattle Pacific in a GNAC counter at 7 p.m. PST.

Newspaper Box Score
Montana State Billings vs Northwest Nazarene
2/9/08 7pm at Nampa,Id
At Nampa,Id
NORTHWEST NAZARENE 90, MONTANA STATE BILLINGS 77
MONTANA STATE BILLINGS (1-10 GNAC, 1-21)
Palmer,Kyle 7-14 3-4 20; Brooks,John 7-14 2-2 18; Taylor,Brett 3-8 2-2 11;
Khoury,Cameron 4-9 0-0 10; Hentzen,Tyler 4-6 0-0 10; Blaine,Kirk 1-4 3-3 6;
Ruff,Troy 1-5 0-0 2; Barton,Mike 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 27-60 10-11 77.
NORTHWEST NAZARENE (7-4 GNAC, 15-5)
Parnell,Justin 9-16 4-4 26; Ryman,Joel 7-12 1-1 20; Simmons,Jason 7-11 3-3
17; Beech,Louie 4-7 0-0 11; Mgebroff,Matt 3-3 0-0 6; Gielow,Kendall 0-7 4-4
4; Shildmyer,Adam 0-3 4-4 4; Roberts,Tyler 0-2 2-2 2; Burk,Tippy 0-0 0-0 0;
Barkdoll,Brian 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 30-61 18-18 90.
Montana State Billings........   52   25  -   77
Northwest Nazarene............   56   34  -   90
3-point goals-Montana State Billings 13-32 (Palmer,Kyle 3-6; Taylor,Brett
3-7; Khoury,Cameron 2-5; Hentzen,Tyler 2-2; Brooks,John 2-5; Blaine,Kirk
1-3; Ruff,Troy 0-4), Northwest Nazarene 12-27 (Ryman,Joel 5-10;
Parnell,Justin 4-7; Beech,Louie 3-5; Gielow,Kendall 0-1; Shildmyer,Adam 0-1;
Roberts,Tyler 0-2; Simmons,Jason 0-1). Fouled out--Montana State
Billings-None, Northwest Nazarene-None. Rebounds-Montana State Billings 30
(Khoury,Cameron 7), Northwest Nazarene 35 (Simmons,Jason 9). Assists-Montana
State Billings 12 (Palmer,Kyle 5), Northwest Nazarene 19 (Roberts,Tyler 6).
Total fouls-Montana State Billings 16, Northwest Nazarene 12. A-1513v