Box Score



BILLINGS, Mont. – Yes it is tough to beat a team three times in one season, but the Crusaders were more than up for the challenge.

A Mike Wright layup sparked a 13-3 run by Northwest Nazarene, giving the Crusaders the lead for good in a 79-73 victory over Central Washington in the first round of the Great Northwest Athletic Conference men's basketball tournament Thursday night on the campus of Montana State Billings.
 

"I'm extremely proud of the way our guys fought again tonight," said NNU head men's basketball coach Dave Daniels. "It is extremely difficult to beat a quality team like Central Washington three times in one year."

But NNU (14-15 overall) did just that as the Crusaders handed CWU (17-9) a 74-67 setback on Jan. 3 in Ellensburg, Wash., and a 66-64 loss on Jan. 31 in Nampa, Idaho prior to Thursday's playoff victory.

Having now bested the sports cliché about beating a team three times in a season, NNU looks to make the same cliché hold true as they take on Seattle Pacific (21-7) on Friday at 5:15 p.m. (MT) in the GNAC Tournament semifinals. The Falcons beat NNU 77-51 in Nampa on Dec. 4, and again on Saturday in Seattle, 60-49.

"We celebrated for a few minutes and now we're starting to get prepared and focused for the battle tomorrow," Daniels said, looking ahead.

The Crusaders earned the right to celebrate a little bit as they pulled away midway through the second half to notch the win in their first trip to the postseason in four years.

Down 55-54, Wright – who scored 13 of NNU's first 16 points on the night and finished with a Crusader career-high 20 points – drove and made a tough running layup with 8 ½ minutes to go that put NNU on top for good.
 

A Matyas Hering 3-pointer stretched the lead to 59-55, and a layup from Kevin Rima followed by an Alex Birketoft dunk pushed NNU's advantage to 65-57 with 6 minutes remaining.

A windmill, fastbreak jam by Erik Kinney gave the Crusaders their biggest lead of the night, up 67-58, and with 5 ½ minutes to play all NNU had to do was hang on to advance.

NNU did just that, as the Wildcats clawed to within 74-71 down on a pair of Devin Matthews free throws in the final minute, but never got closer.

Wright led NNU with 20 points, four assists and three steals in the win while Kinney added 17 points, Birketoft scored 14, grabbed eight rebounds and blocked four shots, Hering added 13 points and Rima recorded his 17^th career double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds.

"Matty Hering was huge off the bench," Daniels said, adding, "… and Mike Wright had his best game of the year."

Setting up a rematch from six days earlier between the Falcons and Crusaders with a berth in the GNAC title game on Saturday night at 7:30 p.m., at stake. The winner of the GNAC Tournament earns an automatic berth to the NCAA Division II National Tournament.

Crusader fans are invited to gather at the Johnson Sports Center for Friday's semifinal game as NNU will host a "watch party" in the Ferdinand Suite. Light refreshments will be provided.