BOISE, Idaho – For the first time in modern school history the Northwest Nazarene men's basketball team defeated an NCAA Division I basketball team in a game that counted.

The Nighthawks remained undefeated on the season with their 77-73 victory Friday against the University of Idaho during the Vandal Hoops Classic at CenturyLink Arena in Boise.

"That's lit. I didn't know that. That's crazy," NNU junior Adonis Arms said. "We're just going to keep it going (Saturday) with Portland State. They are a good team and we are a good team, so we're going to keep it rolling."

NNU (5-0 overall) faces Portland State at 5 p.m. The only other time the Nighthawks have defeated a Division I team in modern history was a win at Portland State more than 10 years ago in an exhibition game.

On Friday, the Nighthawks erased a six-point halftime deficit by moving the ball and settling down offensively. After shooting 37.5 percent, including a miserable 1-of-12 from behind the 3-point line NNU shot 60.7 percent and 6-of-8 from beyond the arc.

"At halftime we literally had guys raise hands of who had missed a makeable layup," NNU coach Paul Rush said. "There were about 12 points we missed. We told them we are better offensively and we needed to calm down and make the shots that we are capable of making."

Coming out of halftime, Idaho threatened to pull away going up 40-31 on three free throws with 18:17 left in the game.

The Nighthawks settled down, though, eventually taking the lead 45-44 on an Adalberto Diaz 3-pointer with 13:18 to go.

"I think just locking down and getting stops and pushing the ball in transition was the difference," NNU senior Obi Megwa said. "Coach told us this is a game we could get and we did it."

NNU eventually led by as many as nine twice, but struggled to put the game away because of poor free throw shooting (12-of-25).
In the end, though, that didn't matter as the team was able to hold off the Vandals (1-3).

"This is big time," Megwa said. "It shows that no matter what level you play at, if you can play you can play.

"The whole team chemistry is different this year. We have so many different guys with different personalities and we all gel together and so far it has helped us a lot."

The road certainly gets tougher from here as NNU faces an athletic Portland State team before opening Great Northwest Athletic Conference play next week at Seattle Pacific and Saint Martin's.

For now, though, the Nighthawks will deservedly revel in their momentous victory.

Arms scored 21 points, had six rebounds, five steals and three assists, while Megwa finished with 16 points and five assists. Diaz added 10 points and four rebounds, Olamilekan Adetunji had eight points and five rebounds and Sam Roth had six points and five rebounds.

Trevon Allen's 24 points led the Vandals.