Box Score

LACEY, Wash. — The Crusaders rained down 3s, and in the end it was just enough.

The Northwest Nazarene men's basketball team knocked down a season-high 15 3-pointers on the road, fueling the team's 79-72 win over St. Martin's in Great Northwest Athletic Conference action on Thursday night.

"It's always great to get a road win," NNU head men's basketball coach Scott Flemming said. "We shot it well from the perimeter in the first half and did a better job of pounding it inside in the second half.

"We are doing a much better job of responding when it gets tough," NNU's coach added. "We still have a long way to go, but we are definitely getting better."

Down 16-7 early, NNU unleashed its long-range attack as a Marko Lepovic 3, followed by triples from Nikola Prvulj and Bouna N'Diaye, quickly trimmed the difference down to 18-16.

A Pol Olivier trey put the Crusaders on top, 25-24, midway through the first half, as NNU knocked down 10-of-17 from beyond the arc in the first 20 minutes.

More balanced offensively in the second half, NNU (6-7 overall, 2-5 GNAC) grabbed a 51-46 lead on a Leeor Konenkov layup with 13 minutes left to play, and went up as much as 59-53 on a pair of N'Diaye free throws.  

A see-saw battled down the stretch, an N'Diaye layup with just over 2 minutes to play tied it, 66-66, and keyed a crucial 10-1 NNU charge.

The Crusaders' 15^th triple of the night, from Prvulj, made it a 71-66 ballgame, and NNU never looked back.

N'Diaye led the way with a game-high 22 points in the win, while Mike Wright added 14 points and four assists, Prvulj scored 13, and Joel Devastey had five points and a team-high eight rebounds.

The Crusaders are back in action Saturday night, playing at Seattle Pacific at 6:15 p.m. (Mountain Time).