DENVER, Colo. – A big second half run created too big of a hole for the Northwest Nazarene men's basketball team to climb out of Wednesday.

The Nighthawks lost 96-91 to Metro State of Denver in a nonconference game before the NCAA mandated holiday break.

The Roadrunners (5-4 overall) used a 16-4 run to open the second half to put the Nighthawks into catchup mode.

"It was frustrating," NNU coach Paul Rush said. It's another game where we have to get better at defense. Offensively, we are doing a really good job sharing the ball. We only had nine turnovers and took care of the ball, but we've got to find a way to get better on defense."

Obi Megwa scored a game-high 33 points and Adonis Arms added 25 points, five rebounds and four rebounds.

"The first nine minutes of the second half and most of the first half we weren't very good on defense," Rush said. "And that made it hard for us to win the game."

The Nighthawks head into the break at 6-2 overall and 1-1 in Great Northwest Athletic Conference play.

"I'm excited for conference play," Rush said. "I think we have a chance to make a good run in GNAC play. It is a really tough conference, but it will be fun to come out of Christmas break and get after it. We have a couple of things we need to get better at, but I think we will be battling in the GNAC."

The Nighthawks are back in action at 7 p.m. on January 1 against Central Washington at the Johnson Sports Center.

NNU wore special warmup shirts that were orange, said NNC and had a quote from the late Terry Layton on the back. They were honoring Layton, who coached at NNU from 1975-82 and who passed away recently after a long illness.

Olamilekan Adetunji and James Nelson each added eight points.