NAMPA, Idaho – Maurice Jones was a man on a mission Thursday night.

The Northwest Nazarene University senior scored a career-high 34 points as the Nighthawks defeated Seattle Pacific 103-91 in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference opener for both teams.

"I wanted to let everyone know that we are the real deal and that I'm here to play," Jones said. "This is my last year. I'm going to go out with a bang and I'm going to show everybody that I'm the best player in this conference and I wanted to prove that tonight."

Jones shot a blistering 13-of-16 from the field, including 5-of-7 from beyond the 3-point line. He also pulled down seven rebounds for the Nighthawks (5-2, 1-0 GNAC). His previous career high was 26 points.

"Coach (Paul Rush) gave us a great gameplan and we just needed to execute it," Jones said.

NNU trailed 29-20 midway through the first half, but used a 16-2 run to take the lead for good.

Jones started the run with a 3-pointer, Jayden Bezzant added a jumper, Obi Megwa added a three-point play, Jones hit another 3, Megwa hit a jumper and Marko Lepovic closed it with a 3-pointer.

"This is a big win for us," guard Khalil Thompson said. "It was a little message, but I believe we can play better. It will get way better than today."

NNU won its conference opener for the first time since 2009 thanks in part to Thompson's play. The transfer from Tacoma Community College has been playing his best ball of the season the last week, scoring 19 points on Thursday.

"My teammates have been setting me up," he said. "I'm starting to get more minutes, and me and my coach are starting to gel well. We are just on a roll right now."

Megwa finished with 18 points, Bezzant had 10 points, four rebounds and four assists and Olamilekan "Spider" Adetunji had his best game of the season, scoring 10 points and grabbing seven rebounds.

Tony Miller's 22 points led Seattle Pacific (4-3, 0-1), which had won 12 of its last 13 against NNU.

NNU hosts Saint Martin's at 7 p.m. Saturday.