NAMPA, Idaho – When Kevin Rima threw down a jam off an alley-oop pass from teammate Derek Isaak to open the second half, it signaled the start of something exciting.

Playing inspired over the final 20 minutes, the Northwest Nazarene men's basketball team pulled off another comeback over St. Martin's, rallying from 14 down to top the Saints, 80-76, in Great Northwest Athletic Conference action Saturday night at the Johnson Sports Center.

"The guys never quit believing in each other and our ability to comeback, and I just think they showed a lot of character and heart tonight," NNU coach Dave Daniels said.

"I couldn't be prouder of the heart and the guts the guys showed again, in back-to-back games," added Daniels, whose team swept its home weekend series, starting with an 85-77 victory over then first-place Western Oregon on Thursday.

As for the Saints, last year the Crusaders (5-8 overall, 3-2 GNAC) trailed by 19 points at St. Martin's but rallied for an overtime win, then NNU found itself in a 15-point hole at home later in the season, yet still rallied to win against the Saints.

Following that theme, the comeback Saturday started with NNU trailing 46-32 before back-to-back-to-back 3-pointers – one by Grayson Moore and two by Isaak – quickly whittled the lead down to 48-41.

A Shayne Perryman triple eventually tied it, 48-48 with just 5:06 gone in the second half, then another 3 from Moore put NNU on top, 51-50.

A pair Perryman 3-point play capped a 22-4 Crusader run, which turned the game around.

NNU stretched its lead to as much as 64-55 on a Rima bucket with 7:34 remaining, and after seeing the Saints (5-9, 2-4) battle back late to tie the score, 73-73, on an Evan Coulter jumper, a final 3-ball from Moore with 44 seconds to play gave the Crusaders the lead for good.

"We changed defenses," Daniels said of his team's second-half charge. "I thought the guys really guarded, really locked in defensively. We held them to 40 percent shooting (10-of-25) and outrebounded them 16-10 in the second half."

Shooting – especially the 3-pointer - turned out to be a big swing in the game, as the Saints hit 11-of-20 triples in the opening half to forge a 14-point lead – up 43-29 at the break.

NNU then used the long ball to answer in the second half, hitting 8-of-13 3s in the final 20-minutes compared to 3-of-12 for SMU. The two teams each finished with 14 3-pointers apiece when the dust settled.

Moore had five of the Crusaders 3-pointers, Isaak added four and Perryman went 3-for-3 from beyond the arc.

Moore finished with 21 points and six assists for NNU, which also got a game-high 22 points from Rima and six rebounds, while Isaak and Perryman each scored 12 points.

"Kevin and Grayson were huge tonight," Daniels said, adding, "and I thought Shayne Perryman played a key role."

Coming off a career-high scoring night on Thursday, Michael Loomis added four points and a game-high eight rebounds for NNU, which now takes a two-game win streak to Alaska to face Alaska Anchorage on Thursday and Alaska Fairbanks on Saturday.

Ryan Rogers led the Saints with 22 points and seven rebounds.