Box Score



NAMPA, Idaho – Playoffs, here we come!

That's right Crusader fans, the Northwest Nazarene men's basketball team punched its ticket to the Great Northwest Athletic Conference postseason with a wire-to-wire, 67-56 victory over Alaska on Thursday night at the Johnson Sports Center in a game broadcast live across the Pacific Northwest by ROOT Sports.
 

"It feels like one more rung on the ladder that we have ascended, so I'm just really excited about that," said NNU head men's basketball coach Dave Daniels.

Playoff fever began with a four-game win streak through the heart of January and the fever grew hotter as NNU enjoyed its best start ever in GNAC play with an 8-3 mark.

A three-game skid coming into Thursday's contest only seemed to stall the inevitable for the Crusaders (11-14, 9-6 GNAC), who got back on the winning track with a dominating defensive effort that held the Nanooks (6-17, 3-12) to 17-of-51 shooting (33.3 percent).

And defense was the key during NNU's strong league start, so Coach Daniels was definitely pleased with his team's intensity on that end of the floor Thursday night.

"It meant a lot to get back there and to do the things that got us to where we are," he said.

Fueled by stingy defensive play, NNU went on a 13-4 run as the Crusader defense held the Nanooks to 1-of-6 shooting and forced two turnovers.

Meanwhile, back-to-back Bouna N'Diaye layups gave NNU a 26-19 lead, a Matyas Hering 3-pointer stretched the margin to 31-22, and an Erik Kinney alley-oop jam with 3 minutes left in the opening half put the Crusaders on top 33-23.
 

From there, NNU was never threatened, going up 44-32 midway through the second half on a Pol Olivier triple and forging a 66-52 lead in the final 2 minutes, which iced the victory.

A win that iced the Crusaders first trip to the six-team GNAC playoffs - held March 4-7 in Billings, Mont. - since the 2010-11 season.

"Our focus is continuing to just play better and better every night, continue to take steps forward so we're ready that first week of March, so we're ready to make that run that we want to make," Daniels said looking ahead to the postseason.

Kinney led the way in Thursday's win for NNU with 17 points while N'Diaye tossed in 12, Rima added 11 and Alex Birketoft scored 10 and grabbed eight rebounds.

Boise High grad Alex Duncan, a junior guard for the Nanooks, led all scorers with 18 points in his homecoming.