NAMPA, Idaho - This turned out to be too much to overcome, no matter the effort.

The Northwest Nazarene men's basketball team couldn't buy a basket, suffering through a 12 1/2 minute shooting drought that cost them in a 95-70 loss to the University of Colorado-Colorado Springs at the Johnson Sports Center on Saturday night in the finale of the NNU/C of I Invitational Classic.

"I was very surprised by our lack of focus tonight," NNU coach Dave Daniels said. "It was uncharacteristic of the team, of who we've been growing into the last few weeks."

Early on the Crusaders played well as Kevin Rima's bucket with 3:05 gone in the game put NNU (1-3 overall) in front, 9-6.

Then, for some reason, the ball simply would not fall for the Crusaders.

NNU managed 10 free throws over the next 12:34 of action, keeping their score ticking away, but without a field goal to be had, the Crusaders couldn't keep pace with the Mountain Lions.

UCCS slowly pulled away, taking a 40-17 lead on two Kendall Godley free throws with 5:24 remaining in the first half before John Van Beuren's putback bucket with 4:21 left in the opening session finally snapped the NNU shooting drought, cutting the lead to 42-21.

That left plenty of time for a comeback, but the Mountain Lions (3-1) simply refused to let that happen, stretching the lead to as much as 78-51 on an Alex Welsh bucket with 8:50 remaining, and UCCS maintained a comfortable lead from there.

Despite the final outcome, the Crusaders did have some bright spots, battling in a game that got out of hand early and overcoming a basketball oddity in the 12 1/2 minute field-goal drought.

Mario Donaldson led the Crusaders with 18 points while Kevin Rima added 16 points and nine rebounds and Grayson Moore chipped in 15 points for NNU, which shot 51.6 percent (16-of-31) in the second half.

Dalton Patten led five Mountain Lion players in double digits with 18 points while Alex Welsh added 11 points and a team-high nine rebounds.

"We're going to regroup, refocus and move forward," said Daniels, whose team now hits the road for a Thanksgiving weekend tournament in California, playing California Baptist on Friday and Azusa Pacific on Saturday.  

The College of Idaho 81, Montana Western 76

NAMPA, Idaho – The College of Idaho claimed the unofficial title with their second win of the weekend, beating Montana Western 81-76 in overtime Saturday afternoon in the NNU/C of I Invitational Classic at the Johnson Sports Center on the Northwest Nazarene campus.

The Coyotes (7-2 overall) took charge against the Bulldogs with a 13-3 run late in the first half capped by two Emanuel Morgan free throws, putting The C of I on top 40-27.

The Bulldogs, who beat the Coyotes 100-92 in Montana last month, closed the gap to 53-51 on a pair of Jordan Overstreet free throws with 10 minutes remaining in the game.

Sydney Donaldson led the Coyotes answer, scoring six points in an 11-2 push that put The C of I comfortable in control, ahead 64-53 with 7:09 to play.

To comfortable, as Montana Western erased a 67-57 deficit in the final 4 ½ minutes, tying the game on two Overstreet free throws with 13 seconds left to force overtime.

Kris Castro gave the Bulldogs (6-3) an early lead in the extra session with two free throws, but a Jordan O'Byrne 3-pointer put The C of I on top for good and they held on for the final victory.

O'Byrne had 19 points to lead the Coyotes, who also got 13 from Demetrius Perkins, 12 from Joe Vaz, 11 points and 10 rebounds from Taylor Pruett and 11 points from Donaldson.

Jake Owsley finished with game highs of 22 points and 13 rebounds for the Bulldogs, who also got 14 points each from Kurtis Parsons and Kris Collins and 11 from Overstreet.