LOS ANGELES, Calif. – The Northwest Nazarene men's basketball team put together a furious rally the final nine minutes of Tuesday's game, but it wasn't enough.

The Nighthawks lost 74-70 to Cal State Los Angeles in their final nonconference game before Great Northwest Athletic Conference play begins next week.

NNU trailed 64-45 with 9:10 left in the game, but went on a 17-3 run to pull within 67-63 with 2:04 remaining.

"We got it going by getting some stops," NNU coach Paul Rush said. "They were on pace for 90 before we finally settled down and started playing some defense. We did a good job of defending in a lot of aspects, but we didn't guard the 3-point line very well and that hurt us a lot."

Ezekiel Alley started the run with a layup, Jaylen Fox and Cayden Wright then made 3-pointers, George Reidy had a jumper, Sam Roth a layup and Zac Furgerson a transition 3-pointer. Roth then split a pair of free throws and Wright made 2-of-3 to make it 67-63.

After a missed 3-pointer by LA, the Nighthawks had a chance to make it a one-possession game but Alley's jumper rimmed off. The Golden Eagles put it away at the line from there.

"We feel really confident as to who we can be as a defensive team," Rush said. "We have to find consistency with that. We have been really up and down with that this year."
Alley finished with a game-high 18 points and six rebounds. Reidy added 14 points, Adalberto Diaz had 10 points and Roth had six points and 16 rebounds. Fox finished with eight points and three steals.

"Sam plays really hard and did a great job rebounding for us," Rush said. "Beto did a lot early and Zeke late. Zac and Cayden really helped us out defensively and helping the ball move on offense."

NNU (3-2 overall) hosts Saint Martin's at 7:30 p.m. next Thursday in a GNAC doubleheader with the women's team.