Box Score



NAMPA, Idaho — The Crusaders had no answer for the red-hot Saints on Saturday night, making it a sour night for Northwest Nazarene.

St. Martin's unleashed a barrage of 3-pointers — the most this season by any Great Northwest Athletic Conference team — pulling away early and never giving the host Crusaders a chance to rally as NNU fell, 98-68, at the Johnson Sports Center.

"Two things," NNU head men's basketball coach Scott Flemming said, "we did not play well at all. We didn't play hard enough and we didn't execute things.
 

"And they did shoot the lights out, they hit 20 3-pointers tonight and that's unbelievable really."

Rhett Baerlocher's 3-ball 8 minutes into the game — the fifth of the night for SMU — put the Crusaders in a 23-12 hole, and the Saints just kept on hitting shots from there.

SMU finished 20-of-32 from beyond the arc (62.5 percent), knocking down 10 triples in each half.

The Crusaders (7-14 overall, 3-13 GNAC) never quit, though, as a Joel Devastey dunk cut a 55-27 deficit down to 57-41, but almost on cue, Michael Painter buried a 3 to help stave off NNU's comeback.

"When you're not playing well and a team's shooting like that you end up with a lopsided loss like this, so very disappointing," Flemming said.

Devastey led the way for NNU on the night with 21 points, while Bouan N'Diaye scored 18 and grabbed six rebounds. Detwon Rogers also had six boards and 11 points for the Crusaders, who now hit the road for games at Simon Fraser and Western Washington on Thursday and Saturday.