Box Score

SEATTLE, Wash. – The Crusaders put a scare into Great Northwest Athletic Conference favorite Seattle Pacific, but in the end, the Falcons were simply too much.

Northwest Nazarene built a 10-point lead late in the first half and found itself down just one point midway through the final stanza before No. 16 Seattle Pacific pulled away for a 73-54 win in the GNAC men's basketball opener for both teams Thursday night.

"The guys really battled," NNU coach Dave Daniels said. "They played a great first half.

"I thought we ran out of steam and SPU made a big run in the last eight minutes."

A pair of 3-pointers each by Michael Loomis and Derek Isaak in the first half pushed NNU (1-6 overall, 0-1 GNAC) in front 31-21 with 3 minutes, 8 seconds remaining until halftime.

The Falcons (8-2, 1-0) chipped away, closing the gap to 31-27 at the break, and eventually took the lead for good, up 34-33, on a Patrick Simon 3 with 1:51 gone in the second half.

The Crusaders kept it close, though, and trailed just 46-45 following a Kevin Rima bucket with 9:15 left on the clock before a 15-2 run, capped by one of six 3-pointers by Simon, iced the win for SPU.

Simon finished with a team-high 19 for the Falcons, who gave coach Ryan Looney his 100^th victory as head coach at SPU.

Loomis, a true freshman from Tualatin, Ore., led all scorers with a career-high 21 points for NNU, while Isaak, a redshirt freshman, added 10 points and Rima had eight points and nine rebounds for the Crusaders, who next play at Montana State Billings on Saturday.

"Our freshmen (Loomis and Isaak) really took a big step today," Daniels said.