Boxscore

CALDWELL, Idaho – Lateef Williams scored a game-high 15 points to lead the Northwest Nazarene University men's basketball team to a 77-53 victory over Portland Bible College on Saturday night at the 2009 Wendy's Holiday Classic, hosted by The College of Idaho.

Williams posted his season-high to lead three Crusaders into double-figures as Kendall Gielow added 14 points and six rebounds and Louie Beech scored 13.

The Crusaders, who improve to 7-1 overall with the win, will have a 16-day break for final exams and Christmas before coming back to play at Boise State on December 29th.

“Our defense starts with Lateef…tonight he again held the leading scorer to only half of his average,” commented NNU head coach Tim Hills.  “The rest of the guys feed off his defense a little bit and it really energizes everyone.  Louie got a couple dunks and it makes the rest of the team take pride in their defensive efforts.”

Portland Bible (10-6) was led by Michael Cooper, who posted the games only double-double with 14 points and 10 rebounds.  Joseph Johnson added 11 points and was perfect from the field, going 3-for-3 from the three points line and 4-for-4 overall.  Both Stephen McCall and Maycol Rivera added 10 each.

NNU out-rebounded the Wildcats 35-26 and committed a season-low 11 turnovers, forcing 22 by PBC.  Brian Barkdoll led the Crusaders on the glass with seven boards and eight points.

Drew Eisinger led the Crusaders with five assists, scoring seven and grabbing five rebounds.

The Crusaders shot 49-percent (32-65) from the floor and 84-percent (11-13) from the free throw line, but an abysmal 11-percent (2-17) from the arc.