Box Score



NAMPA, Idaho – No bitter, just a whole lot of sweet on "Senior Night" for the Crusaders.

The Northwest Nazarene men's basketball team erased a 12-point first-half deficit and dug out of a six-point hole late, forcing overtime before toppling Alaska Anchorage, 100-93, in Great Northwest Athletic Conference action Saturday night at the Johnson Sports Center.
 

"I saw a little different resolve in us today," NNU head men's basketball coach Dave Daniels said. "There was another level of fight and competitiveness that was really fun to see, like they refused to lose, just straight up refused to do it, and that was really fun to see."

That refuse to lose attitude led to a quick comeback as an Erik Kinney slam dunk with 5 ½ minutes remaining in the opening half tied the game, 28-28, as NNU (12-14, 10-6 GNAC) erased a comfortable 26-14 lead for the Seawolves.

The Crusaders kept the game close until a surge midway through the second half when they took a 61-56 lead on a 3-pointer from one of their three seniors, Aubrey Ball.

Undaunted, Alaska Anchorage (14-12, 10-6) whittled the lead down to nothing and held a 79-73 advantage after a Boomer Blossom bucket with 2 ½ to play, but back came NNU once again.

The third 3 in a row from redshirt freshman Alex Birketoft – who finished with a career-high 29 points and nine rebounds – tied it 79-79, and he hit another game-tying 15 footer in the final 17 seconds, forcing overtime with the score knotted, 81-81.

"Obviously Alex hit some huge shots," said Daniels.

Once into the extra session it was all NNU as a Birketoft layup made it 87-83, a 3-ball from Ball stretched the lead to 93-87, and a final Ball free throw pushed the advantage to a commanding 100-90 in the final seconds.
 

"That was like a playoff atmosphere, there's no question," said Daniels, adding, "I just couldn't be prouder of the way the guys continued to fight. We were down, down late, came back and just everybody contributed. Man it was awesome."

Ball finished with 14 points and five assists in his farewell to the Johnson Sports Center while fellow senior Matyas Hering had 10 in his final home game.

And fifth-year senior Kevin Rima recorded his 16^th career double-double in the victory, scoring 19 points and grabbing 10 rebounds for the Crusaders, who now hit the road for their final two games.

Two vital games as NNU can wrap up the No. 2 spot in the GNAC with a road sweep at Montana State Billings and Seattle Pacific on Thursday and Saturday.

"Obviously we'd like to be second, but the most important thing to me is that we're playing well going into the tournament," Daniels said, looking ahead to next weekend's final two regular-season contests.

Kinney also had 14 points and nine rebounds for the Crusaders and Bouna N'Diaye tossed in 11 points in the win.