NAMPA, Idaho – The first time Jayden Bezzant had the ball in his hands with the game on the line, he fumbled it away for a turnover.

The second time, though, he drove hard to the baseline and made a layup as the buzzer for regulation sounded sending the game to overtime.

In those extra five minutes, the Northwest Nazarene University men's basketball team earned a much needed 79-78 victory Saturday against visiting Alaska Anchorage in a Great Northwest Athletic Conference game.

"Honestly, I scrapped the play," he said. "We had a play drawn up for Obi (Megwa). I saw a gap and I took it. I trusted my instincts and my skill and sent it to overtime."

With six seconds left the Nighthawks had the ball trailing by a point and Bezzant took a pass and dribbled off his leg turning it over.

When asked if he was trying to make up for that with his game-tying basket on the next play he said, "Absolutely. I know with the game on the line and a big turnover like that … luckily he missed one and I knew we had a chance."

In overtime, Bezzant and Megwa helped the Nighthawks rally from a 78-75 deficit to get the win.

Bezzant hit a pull-up jumper to pull within one with two minutes left. After a turnover, Megwa then flashed his ball-handling skills driving the lane for the go-ahead bucket.

After the teams traded missed shots, NNU still had to make a defensive stand to get the win. Anchorage drove down the court and had an attempted pass tipped to the waiting arms of Sam Roth.

"It's huge. We felt like we should be in a better spot in league and this one kind of feels like it gets us out of the funk," Roth said. "We are excited about it and we want to build from it."

NNU (8-6 overall, 4-4 GNAC) trailed by 10 at halftime, but played better defensively in the second half and started grinding possessions out.

"We talked about it after the game, we won the game because in that last possession we were tougher, we were scrappier and we made it happen," NNU coach Paul Rush said. "We have been doing a lot of things well, but it is hard to fight through that when you are not getting the win.

"To get one and be rewarded for doing things well, especially with a couple of guys still not playing."

NNU was again without leading scorer Maurice Jones and third leading scorer Khalil Thompson with undisclosed injuries.

Bezzant and Megwa made sure that didn't matter – offensively at least.

Megwa led all scorers with 27 points, also grabbing four rebounds. Bezzant set a new season-high with 25 points, topping his 24 that he scored Thursday in a loss.

None were bigger than his two at the end of regulation, though.

"It was awesome," Rush said. "I didn't see what happened on the (turnover), so to step up in that moment, to go and make a play … it wasn't like it was easy. He was guarded. He drove by one guy, got by the second guy, spun and finished. It was a great play by him."

And a huge win for the Nighthawks.