Box Score




NAMPA, Idaho — It was a simple adjustment: Teamwork on offense.

With both teams inching along offensively in the first half, the Crusaders held a slim one-point edge on visiting Central Washington at the break on Tuesday night in the teams' Great Northwest Athletic Conference battle.

After a quick halftime pep-talk from head coach Scott Flemming, Northwest Nazarene came alive on the offensive end, taking control and rolling to a 73-61 victory over the Wildcats.

"It wasn't any real strategy, it was just talking to them about sharing the basketball and not being impatient," Coach Flemming said of his halftime speech.
 

It turned the game around for the Crusaders (10-9 overall, 7-6 GNAC), who set a stingy defensive tone in the opening half that kept them on top, but barely, as the offense spurted.

Bouna N'Diaye had 13 points in the first half as only four NNU players scored over the opening 20 minutes, with the Crusaders clinging to a 24-23 edge at halftime.

"I felt like pretty much the whole game we were pretty solid defensively," Flemming said. "Offensively in the first half we weren't very good at all; we struggled, we were inpatient; we just weren't in synch, but we made some adjustments and guys came out and played a lot better team ball."

Right out of the gate as N'Diaye dished to Maurice Jones for a 3 to start the half, then Jones sent a ball down low to Kaileb Rodriguez for a thunderous dunk that awoke the offense and put NNU on top, 31-25.

And the offense kept clicking from there as Pol Olivier kicked a pass out to Jayden Bezzant for a 3-pointer, and a 39-30 Crusader advantage with five minutes gone in the second half.

The selfless play kept going, and the lead kept growing, as another Olivier pass to Bezzant led to another 3-ball and a 45-33 NNU lead, and an alley-oop slam by N'Diaye off a Jones assist put the Crusaders comfortably on top, 58-41, with 5 ½ minutes to go.

A barrage of desperation 3-pointers by the Wildcats (12-7, 7-6) only managed to trim the lead down to 66-58 before 7-of-8 NNU free throws iced the victory.

A key victory in the Crusaders drive towards the postseason, tying the two teams for fifth in the GNAC standings as NNU now prepares for another crucial game on Thursday when Montana State Billings visits the Johnson Sports Center at 7 p.m. in a battle for fourth place in the league race.

N'Diaye led a balanced team effort for NNU with 23 points, while Jones added his 10^th double-double of the season with 14 points and 12 rebounds. Bezzant chipped in 11 points, Rodriguez scored 10 and grabbed seven boards, and Spider Adetunji added five points and 12 rebounds for the Crusaders.