Box Score

ANCHORAGE, Alaska — A six-minute slump sank the Crusaders.

Down just a deuce midway through the opening half, the Northwest Nazarene men's basketball team went into a brief offensive slump and host Alaska Anchorage took advantage with an 18-2 run, a charge that put the Crusaders into a hole they never completely dug out of in a 90-78 loss in Great Northwest Athletic Conference play.

"I thought we really competed tonight, especially in the second half," NNU head men's basketball coach Scott Flemming said. "We just need to do that for 40 minutes."

The Crusaders (3-2 overall, 0-2 GNAC) traded baskets and the lead with the Seawolves early, and looked to be in good position down just 20-18 with 9 ½ minutes until the break following a Bouna N'Diaye 3-pointer.

Then a 1-for-9 shooting slump cost NNU as Alaska Anchorage (8-4, 2-0) inched out to a 38-20 lead over the next six minutes.

Undaunted, NNU went right to work with a strong comeback effort in the second half, closing the margin to 56-48 on a Detwon Rogers bucket with 13 ½ minutes left in the game, to 78-71 on a Nikola Prvulj 3 with 4 minutes to go, and to 78-73 back on a pair of Rogers free throws with 3 ½ minutes on the scoreboard clock.

But that's as close as the comeback came to giving NNU a win, as the Seawolves held on late.

"We improved in several areas tonight, but we still need to continue to grow as a team," said Flemming, whose team is back at home next Saturday to host Dominican (Calif.) in a non-conference contest with the chance to grow more as a team before returning to GNAC play on Dec. 31.

Rogers led the way for the second straight outing for NNU, scoring a game-high 24 points and grabbing five rebounds for the Crusaders, who also got 17 points from N'Diaye, 15 points and six rebounds from Joel Devastey, and 15 points and seven assists from Mike Wright.