Box Score

CALDWELL, Idaho — The Crusaders continue to grow, but they sure would like to grow from wins.

It looked like they had a win within their grasp Saturday night, but fouls and turnovers in the second half proved costly as the Northwest Nazarene men's basketball team couldn't fend off a late comeback by Westminster, falling 73-68 in a game played at The College of Idaho.

"Much better effort tonight," NNU head coach Dave Daniels said.

"Eleven turnovers in the second half really hurt us, though."
 

Early on, the Crusaders (1-3 overall) were hurting Westminster in all facets of the game, taking a 8-0 lead right out of the gate on a David Shedrick bucket, and pushing the lead to as much as 28-16 with 5 ½ minutes left in the first half on a Matyas Hering 3-pointer.

The Griffins (1-5) slowly chipped away in the second half, as NNU committed 11 turnovers and was called for 17 fouls in the final 20 minutes, but a Mike Wright 3 still had the Crusaders leading 48-44 with 12 ½ minutes left to play.

But down the stretch Westminster took the lead and slowly stretched it, going up 69-62 late on a Quincy Bair triple with 2 minutes left, and the Crusaders couldn't come back.

Despite the setback, Coach Daniels saw plenty of bright spots as the team continued to grow together, and the Crusaders head man also liked the play of senior Kevin Rima, who had 13 points and seven rebounds coming off the bench.

Erik Kinney also added 10 points and seven boards off the bench, while Wright had 15 points off the bench, Shedrick scored 10 points and Pol Oliver had five points and eight assists for the Crusaders.

"It was good to see Kevin get back on track, and Pol really gave us a spark with his eight assists," Daniels said.

The Crusaders now look to build on that momentum when they hit the court Monday night, hosting The College of Idaho at 7 p.m. in part 2 of this year's United Heritage Mayor's Cup.