Boxscore

NAMPA, Idaho - Kendall Gielow scored a game-high 21 points but the Northwest Nazarene University men's basketball team committed a season-high 23 turnovers to fall 73-68 against Saint Martin's University on Thursday night in a Great Northwest Athletic Conference game at the Johnson Sports Center in Nampa.

 

Gielow led the Crusaders (10-9, 2-7 GNAC) from the floor and on the glass, also pulling down a game-best 10 rebounds, however the turnovers were too much to overcome on the defensive end.

 

"We turned it over way too much," commented NNU head coach Tim Hills.  "And some of them were with no pressure on us, we just didn't bring it mentally.  We played hard and the effort was good, and despite ourselves, we were still in the game until the end...but just too many mental mistakes."

 

Blake Poole led the Saints (16-6, 4-4 GNAC), matching Gielow with 21 points, while Bill Richardson added 16 and Jake Linton 12.  Linton, the GNAC leading scorer at 23.2 points per game, was held to one-of-nine from the floor, but converted 10-of-11 free throws, and handed out a game-high eight assists.

 

SMU shot 45.6-percent (26-57) from the floor, 35.7-percent from the arc (5-14), and 80-percent (16-20) from the free throw line as they picked up their first road GNAC win of the season.

 

Brian Barkdoll, Anthony Golden, and Joel Ryman each scored 12 for the Crusaders as NNU went 20-for-54 from the floor (37-percent), seven-of-18 (38.9-percent) from the three pont line, and were an impressive 21-of-22 from the charity stripe.

 

The Crusaders out-rebounded the Saints 35-30 and forced 19 SMU turnovers, but returned the ball just as fast with 23 of their own.

 

NNU will now have a week off to prepare for Central Washington next Thursday and Seattle Pacific on February 14th.