Box Score




NAMPA, Idaho — The Crusader are doing anything but just playing out the string: Thursday night they were playing determined basketball expecting to win.

The Northwest Nazarene men's basketball team battled all night long against second-place Alaska Anchorage, and drew within four points of the Seawolves late.

But a few too many missed opportunities proved costly to the Crusaders determined effort as Alaska Anchorage scored a 74-61 win over NNU in Great Northwest Athletic Conference action Thursday night at the Johnson Sports Center.

"You're never happy with a loss, obviously, but I thought our guys really competed tonight," NNU head men's basketball coach Scott Flemming said. "I thought we played very well. The difference is we didn't shoot it real well from the 3-point line and we didn't shooting it very well from the free-throw line."

The Crusaders (8-17 overall, 4-15 GNAC) were 5-of-22 from beyond the arc (22.7 percent) and 14-of-23 from the charity stripe (60.9 percent).
 

The Seawolves (21-9, 14-5) were just a bit better, 7-of-18 from 3-point range and 25-of-38 at the free-throw line, but it proved to be the winning difference of 13 points.

"I thought our defense overall was pretty good, I thought we competed," Flemming said. "I think they struggled against our pressure; and I think we executed pretty well, we just missed a bunch of open shots."

That led to the Seawolves inching out to a 34-24 lead at the break, a margin that grew to 43-28 in the opening moments of the second half.

But NNU's determined play on both ends of the floor began to pay off as a turnover led to a Detwon Rogers bucket with just less than 15 minutes to play, making it a 45-36 ballgame.

A Pol Olivier bucket after a defensive stand whittled the difference down to 54-48 with 9 ½ minutes to go, and with a little less than 4 minutes left on the clock, a pair of Rogers free throws trimmed the margin to 61-57.

But a pair of turnovers and a missed 3-pointer by the Crusaders fueled a mini run by Alaska Anchorage, which stretch the lead to 66-57 on two Sekou Wiggs free throws, and from there the Seawolves were able to hold on to spoil NNU's upset plans.

Bouna N'Diaye finished with 22 points for NNU, while Rogers added 19 points and seven rebounds in the second-to-last contest of the year for the Crusaders.

Next up: NNU hosts Alaska on Saturday at 7 p.m. for "Senior Night" as the Crusaders will honor and say thank you to seniors Mike Wright and Joel Devastey.