BILLINGS, Mont. – The Northwest Nazarene men's basketball team played its fourth game in seven days Thursday.

Their legs didn't show any weariness, though.

The Nighthawks rolled to an 85-72 victory at Montana State Billings in Great Northwest Athletic Conference action.

"The level of focus, effort and intensity they brought tonight was awesome. It was great to see," NNU coach Paul Rush said. "This is the hardest stretch of the season … four games in seven days and the last one on the road. To be able to play the game we did tonight and finish off that stretch was really cool to see."

Ezekiel Alley had his best offensive performance of the season, pouring in a season-high 27 points. He shot 10-of-14 from the field, including 4-of-4 from behind the arc and 3-for-3 from the line.

"We had some good patience and Zeke played really well," Rush said. "He shot it really well and was able to get to the basket. He was impressive."

NNU (5-6 overall, 2-4 GNAC) led 46-44 with 15 minutes, 20 seconds remaining in the game before going on an 18-4 run to blow it open.

Alley, Jayden Bezzant and Adalberto Diaz started it with layups, while Sam Roth hit a pair of free throws and George Reidy a 3-pointer for a 57-44 lead.
Reidy then hit a layup, Alley had a free throw and Bezzant hit a pair of jumpers and just like that it was 64-48 with 8:23 to go.

"Defensively we were really locked in on their stuff," Rush said. "We were able to slow them down a little bit. We showed a lot of toughness and resiliency – that is something I really like about this group."

NNU trailed 19-12 with 11:11 left in the first half, but went on a 17-3 run to take a 29-22 lead with 3:32 left. The Nighthawks went into halftime up 37-31.

Diaz finished with 19 points and five rebounds, while Bezzant had 14 points and seven rebounds. Reidy finished with 11 points and Roth had eight.

Brendan Howard's 22 points and seven rebounds led the Yellowjackets (6-7, 1-4).

Bezzant is now just 11 points away from reaching the 1,000-point plateau.

The Nighthawks host Alaska at 5:15 p.m. Thursday as part of a doubleheader with the women's team.