FAIRBANKS, Alaska – The Northwest Nazarene men's basketball team is officially on a roll.

The Nighthawks won their fifth consecutive Great Northwest Athletic Conference game Thursday, defeating Alaska 83-73 to remain in a three-way tie for first place.

NNU (11-2 overall, 6-1 GNAC) is off to its best start since moving to NCAA Division II in 2001 and ended a six-game losing streak at Alaska in the process.

"I was impressed with our guys for staying focused and having the mental toughness to overcome some tough obstacles on the road," NNU coach Paul Rush said. "If we could keep (Alaska) off the free throw line, we could get stops and it gave us the opportunities to get rebounds and run.

"All the free throws slowed the game down and kept us from getting out in transition."

Adonis Arms scored a game-high 23 points, including 17 in the first half. Freshman James Nelson had his second consecutive big night, scoring 20 points and grabbing 11 rebounds.

"We got good minutes out of guys off the bench," Rush said. "We had some of our guys that aren't used to playing as many minutes have to extend their minutes tonight."

NNU was in foul trouble from the start and combined with the absence of Jayden Bezzant, it made for a thin bench. Starting center Olamilekan Adetunji fouled out while playing just seven minutes.

Felix White had eight points and six rebounds off the bench in Adetunji's absence, while Sam Roth had six points and three steals off the bench.

Obi Megwa added 13 points and five rebounds and Jalen Burkett had six points.

Alaska (4-10, 1-6) pulled within 72-66 with six minutes left on a 3-pointer that rolled around the rim twice before dropping.

But Nelson forced a shot clock violation and then had offensive rebounds and putbacks on back-to-back possessions to push the lead to 76-66.

White then had a layup, Megwa made a free throw and Nelson added a pair to put the Nighthawks up 81-66.

NNU is back in action at 9 p.m. MST on Saturday at Alaska Anchorage.