PORTLAND, Ore. – Obi Megwa looked like his old self Saturday and it paid off for the Northwest Nazarene men's basketball team.

The point guard, who has struggled with his shot at times so far this season, scored 16 points in a row for the Nighthawks (3-0 overall) who held off Cal State Los Angeles 71-68 at Concordia University.

"Obi hadn't been playing himself yet to this point," NNU coach Paul Rush said. "That stretch, though, it was kind of like where he was last year – pushing the ball, finishing at the rim and hitting pull up jumpers. He got it going."

Megwa finished with a game-high 20 points as he helped NNU erase a 10-point deficit in his personal run.

Trailing 24-14 with 6:17 left in the first half, Megwa made a layup, a 3-pointer, a layup, a jumper, a layup, a 3-pointer and a layup to give NNU a 30-26 lead with 2:05 left.

Megwa's ball handling was also key as the Golden Eagles are a team that runs a full-court press, plays up tempo and generally tries to create chaos. The Nighthawks had just six turnovers in the first half.

In the second half, though, the Golden Eagles put together a furious rally in the final six minutes.

CSU LA rallied from a 20-point deficit Friday to defeat Concordia and it looked like the Golden Eagles might do it again.

NNU led 67-51 with 5:44 remaining but then gave up a 17-2 run as Los Angeles pulled within 69-68 with 29 seconds left.

Adonis Arms made a pair of free throws and had a blocked shot as time expired to close out the game.

""Today was a good testament to our toughness and ability to stay with it throughout the game," Rush said. "We were able to fight through a lot of adversity."

Arms finished with 11 points, three rebounds, three assists, three steals and two blocks. Jayden Bezzant added 11 points, Felix White had eight points and six rebounds and Olamilekan Adetunji had seven points and seven rebounds.

NNU is back in action at 7:07 p.m. Tuesday, hosting College of Idaho in the second game of the United Heritage Insurance Mayors' Cup.