Box Score

BURNABY, B.C. — The Crusaders showed their resolve Thursday night in Canada, and in the process earned a season sweep.

Down 13 points on the road, the Northwest Nazarene men's basketball team never gave up, rallying in the second half to top host Simon Fraser in Great Northwest Athletic Conference action.

"I thought we consistently played with great effort tonight," NNU head men's basketball coach Scott Flemming said.

"In the first half we struggled shooting and turned it over," Flemming added. "In the second half we exectued on offense and played great team ball on both ends of the floor."
  
The Clan slowly inched out to a 27-14 lead with 5 minutes left in the opening half against NNU, which chipped away and trailed just 33-26 after a pair of Detwon Rogers free throws just before halftime.

Simon Fraser tried to break the game open right out of the gate in the final session, as a JJ Pankratz 3-pointer put the hosts on top, 38-26.

But NNU (8-15 overall, 4-13 GNAC) showed its resolve, going on a 20-4 run, and never trailed again.

Mike Wright had eight points in the charge, including the final 3-pointer that put the Crusaders on top, 46-42, with 14 ½ minutes to play. Rogers added seven points, including the first five to spark the charge.

The game stayed close from there, and the Clan even knotted the score, 60-60, in the final 4 ½ minutes, but a Bouna N'Diaye layup followed by seven straight points from Rogers helped NNU pull away.

The Crusaders hit 8-of-8 free throws in the final 2 minutes to ice the victory.

Rogers led the way with 24 points and eight rebounds in the win, while Wright added 20 points and seven assists, and N'Diaye had 13 points.

And turning in a performance for the record books was freshman Leeor Konenkov, who had nine rebounds and tied the Crusader school record with eight blocked shots. Konenkov matched the record set by Kevin Mayfield during the 1990-91 season against MidAmerica Nazarene.

NNU, which also beat the Clan 82-77 in Nampa, Idaho, last month, now takes the momentum of its season sweep to Western Washington to play on Saturday.