NAMPA, Idaho – The Northwest Nazarene men's basketball team wasn't happy with how its first game against Western Washington went.

The Vikings took it to the Nighthawks. They were having fun, dancing and letting NNU know who they thought was the better team.

On Thursday, the Nighthawks threw the first punch and rolled past Western Washington 87-64 in Great Northwest Athletic Conference action to win their sixth consecutive game.

"They punked us at their place really bad and that loss stuck with us – especially me. I don't like losing like that," NNU senior Jayden Bezzant said. "I think there was a different sense of urgency and we played with a chip on our shoulder a bit tonight."

In Western's 25-point win in early January, the Vikings led 18-2. This time, though, it was the Nighthawks who came out hot, jumping out to a 15-0 lead.

Bezzant hit a 3-pointer, Olamilekan Adetunji threw down a dunk, Adalberto Diaz had a couple of layups and Bezzant hit a jumper.

Less than 5 minutes into the game and the second-place GNAC team looked like it didn't know what hit them.
 

"We know that last game, we kind of slept on them and they punched us right away," Adetunji said. "In the locker room before the game, the coaches said we have to take it to them. We have to go get them and make a statement first. Make them react to what we do."

Adetunji continued his strong play of late, scoring 18 points and grabbing 14 rebounds. His hustle on defense, on the glass and on the offensive end was a big key as the Vikings shot just 25 percent from the field in the first 20 minutes.

"Spider has been huge for us lately," Bezzant said. "On the boards, on the (pick and) rolls … he just brings that energy. He's been a monster. The stats reflect that.

"He's having a heckuva year. First-team (all-conference) in my opinion. One of the best bigs in the league."

Things were going so well for the Nighthawks (10-6 overall, 7-4 GNAC) on Thursday that Adetunji hit a layup falling down. Ezekiel Alley banked in a 3-pointer. And nearly everything the team threw up went down.

NNU shot 51.4-percent for the game, including 44.4 percent from beyond the arc.

After Western (13-6, 8-3) went on a 10-2 run to pull within 17-10, the Nighthawks immediately answered – as they did all night.

Reidy had a pair of layups, Bezzant hit a jumper, Adetunji a layup, Jaylen Fox a jumper and Diaz a breakaway layup. Just like that it was 29-10.

"They got us the first time and we didn't like it," Gabriel Murphy said. "We didn't want to let that happen again. We wanted to come out with a ton of energy and pressure."

Murphy threw down a monster two-handed dunk over a Western post player in the second half, bringing the house down.

It was just that kind of night for the Nighthawks and one they've seemingly been having a lot lately.

"It's just togetherness," Adetunji said. "We believe in each other. Coach did a great job of talking to us through some rough times and told us to keep believing in the process and keep going hard."

They have certainly been doing that and it's paid off with a quick rise up the conference standings.

"We were just trying to give them a taste of their own medicine," Bezzant said.

Consider that mission accomplished.

Bezzant finished with 20 points, five assists and three steals. Reidy had 11 points and five rebounds, while Alley had 10 points, four assists, four steals and three rebounds for the Nighthawks, who host Simon Fraser at 7 p.m. Saturday.

Jalen Green's 13 points led the Vikings.