Box Score

ANCHORAGE, Alaska – An eight-minute slump briefly ended up derailing the Crusaders success Saturday night.

Down just two points early in the second half, an 0-for-7 shooting slump by the Northwest Nazarene men's basketball team provided just enough cushion for host Alaska Anchorage, which forged a 13-point lead then held on for a 67-57 win in Great Northwest Athletic Conference play.

"It was a good old-fashioned slugfest," said NNU head men's basketball coach Dave Daniels, whose team saw its four-game win streak snapped. "Both teams shot under 40 percent from the floor."

Stingy defense by both teams highlighted the game, as NNU shot just 36.2 percent (17-of-47), which ended up being just barely better percentage-wise then UAA's 35.1 percent (20-of-57).

But the game's outcome hung on an 8-minute scoring lull for the Crusaders (8-11, 6-3 GNAC), who trailed just 32-30 after an Erik Kinney layup with two minutes gone off the second-half clock.

That's when the Seawolves (10-9, 6-3) began a glacial 11-0 run, taking a 43-30 lead on two Christian Leckband free throws with 10 minutes to play.

But a double-digit deficit has been nothing to fear for the Crusaders of late, as NNU rallied to beat Simon Fraser and Western Washington last week despite trailing by 11 and 12 points, respectively, in the second half.

Mike Wright re-started the Crusader offense with a pair of free throws, then an Alex Birketoft 3-pointer provided a big spark, trimming the margin to 47-37 with 8 minutes left.

A minute later another Birketoft 3-ball made it 49-42, and the comeback was rolling.

The Crusaders charged all the way back to within a possession, down 53-50 following a Kinney bucket with 4 minutes left, before the comeback came to an end.

"I was very proud of our resilience again tonight on the road," Daniels said. "After being down 13, we battled right back to a one-possession game and just ran out of steam in the last two minutes."

Kinney finished with 16 points for the Crusaders, who also got 12 points from Matyas Hering, eight points each from Kevin Rima and Birketoft, and seven rebounds from Rima.

Now the Crusaders return home and begin a three-game home-stand by hosting Central Washington next Saturday, the start of the second half of the league race with nine games remaining to determine the six GNAC playoff teams.

"Overall, I'm very pleased with the first round of GNAC games and we're looking forward to being back home and starting the second round," said Daniels, whose team is tied for fourth in the league standings.