Box Score

ELLENSBURG, Wash. — Every small mistake during a six-minute stretch proved costly for the Crusaders on the road Tuesday night.

In the midst of a see-saw battle on the road against host Central Washington in Great Northwest Athletic Conference play, the Northwest Nazarene men's basketball team hit 1-for-8 and committed three turnovers during a small second-half lull.

Small miscues, but it seemed as it the Wildcats made NNU pay for each one in an 18-2 run that broke open a close ballgame and sent the Crusaders to a 94-80 defeat.

"They have a lot of offensive weapons and almost every time we broke down they made us pay," NNU head coach Scott Flemming said.

"There were some positives tonight, but on the road we have to play better."

The Crusaders (5-6 overall, 2-3 GNAC) get the chance to do just that on Saturday as they wrap up a four-game post-Christmas road trip playing at Montana State Billings.

Tuesday, NNU looked to build on the momentum it scored with a huge comeback win at Western Oregon on Saturday, though, and in the opening half things went fairly well.

First, the Crusaders dug out of an early 12-4 hole with a Kaileb Rodriguez layup, a Pol Olivier 3-pointer and a Bouna N'Diaye dunk.

Then NNU kept the game close before eventually grabbing a 40-38 lead just before halftime, thanks to five straight points from Jayden Bezzant.

But the 12^th offensive rebound of the half by the Wildcats (8-3, 3-2) led to a Jawan Stepney putback, and a 40-40 tie.

Then a Crusader turnover with 8 seconds until the break gave CWU another chance and Dom Hunter buried a 3-pointer for a 43-40 score in the Wildcats favor at the break.

"We came out much better in the first half tonight," Flemming said, adding, "our half-court defense was solid, but we gave up far too many second-chance points."

The Crusaders came out strong in the second half as well and trailed just 56-52 after a Maurice Jones hoop-and-harm 3-point play with 5 minutes gone in the session.

Then the small breakdowns started adding up as the Wildcats went on that 18-2 run, a charge sparked by three straight 3s.

Down 74-54, NNU fought to cut the margin in half at 83-73 after an N'Diaye 3-ball with 4 ½ minutes to go, but the Crusaders couldn't pull off a second-straight big comeback.

Olivier led the way with a career-high 20 points for NNU, which also got 15 points and 14 rebounds from Jones. N'Diaye added 14 points, and Nikola Prvulj tossed in 10 points for the Crusaders.