Box Score




NAMPA, Idaho — It was a bittersweet ending as Bouna N'Diaye launched a 3-pointer that sailed through the net.

One possession earlier that shot might have forced overtime, but a few seconds made all the difference as the Northwest Nazarene men's basketball team came up just short against visiting Western Washington, falling 80-78 on Treasure Valley School Night at the Johnson Sports Center in Great Northwest Athletic Conference action.

"Any time you lose a close one it's tough to take," NNU head men's basketball coach Scott Flemming said. "We did a lot of good things tonight, but we did a lot of things poorly; it's kind of an up and down experience."

The good: The Crusaders shot 54.6 percent from the field (30-of-56) and held the second-best shooting team in the league to just 40 percent.

The bad: NNU was out-rebounded 43-31 by the Vikings, who held a commanding 21-4 edge on the offensive boards. That led to almost 20 more shot opportunities, and ultimately the two-point victory.
 

Despite that difference on the glass, NNU (6-9 overall, 2-7 GNAC) was in the game throughout, erasing an early seven-point WWU lead and going up 30-29 on a Joel Devastey bucket with about 8 minutes until halftime.

The teams traded the lead four more times before the Vikings (11-7, 5-4) went into the break on top, 45-41.

But some halftime adjustments on defense, and on the glass, helped the Crusaders surge during a 13-4 run capped by a Mike Wright 3-pointer that gave NNU a 58-53 advantage with 11 minutes to go.

The Vikings battled back, and a see-saw fight to the finish came down to the final minute with NNU trailing just 76-75.

But a turnover and a missed layup allowed the Vikes to sink four free throws that iced the win before N'Diaye's buzzer-beater 3, which came one possession too late.

"We got out-rebounded terribly in the first half, and we didn't play very good defense," Flemming said. "I thought second half we made some adjustments, played better defense, rebounded better, but made a lot of mental mistakes offensively second half."

While a disappointing outcome, the Crusaders look to bounce back quickly as they host Simon Fraser on Saturday night at 7 to wrap up the first half of the GNAC season.

Wright led the way for NNU on the night with a game-high 22 points along with five rebounds, while N'Diaye added 15 points, six boards and four blocked shots.

Joel Devastey had 14 points and Detwon Rogers scored 10 for NNU.