Box Score

BELLINGHAM, Wash. – Chalk up win No. 1.

The Crusaders men's basketball team dominated on both ends of the floor Saturday night, notching their first official win of the 2014-15 season with an 87-71 victory over Notre Dame de Namur at the Chuck Randall Classic hosted by Western Washington.

"I'm very pleased with the team effort we showed on both ends of the court," NNU head men's basketball coach Dave Daniels said.
 

"I thought we did a great job sharing the ball and valuing each possession," Daniels added of the Crusader offense.

The Crusaders came out firing on all cylinders offensively, as a Bouna N'Diaye 3-pointer sparked a 9-0 run – seven of which came from N'Diaye whose dunk with 6 ½ minutes gone put NNU (1-1 overall) well in command, up 18-7.

NNU led the rest of the night, but not without the Argonauts (0-2) making it interesting a few times.

A Jordan Reise triple at the halftime buzzer trimmed the Crusader lead to just 30-25, and a James Northup triple with 17 minutes left to play cut the margin down to 35-32.

The Crusaders hung tough, though, not letting the lead slip away and quickly answered with back-to-back 3s from N'Diaye and Mike Wright and an Erik Kinney bucket, pushing their lead back up to 50-37.
 

The Argonauts managed to get as close as 66-60 down in the final five minutes, but never seriously threatened, and NNU hit 9-of-10 free throws down the stretch to ensure the victory.

A win fueled by plenty of big efforts on offense for NNU, as Kinney recorded his first double-double in a Crusader uniform, scoring 21 points and grabbing 10 rebounds.

N'Diaye added 19 points, Wright added 17 points and six assists, Kevin Rima had 12 points and Pol Olivier scored 11 for NNU, which shot 58.7 percent (27-of-46) from the field and 88.9 percent (24-of-27) from the free-throw line.

On the other end of the floor, NNU held the Argos to 41.1 percent shooting (23-of-56), forced nine turnovers and outrebounded Notre Dame de Namur, 32-24.

"There's still plenty of room for growth, but I am excited about the steps we took tonight to improve," said Daniels, whose team returns home to play Montana State-Northern and Westminster on Friday and Saturday.

The site and time for both games is yet to be finalized as the Crusaders are scheduled to host both games, but the contests could be moved to The College of Idaho campus in Caldwell, Idaho, if the NNU volleyball team hosts the NCAA National Tournament's West Regional next weekend.