SEATTLE, Wash. – The Northwest Nazarene men's basketball season came to a disappointing end Thursday as the Nighthawks lost in the GNAC Championships quarterfinals.
NNU lost 85-76 to Alaska Anchorage at Royal Brougham Pavilion on Seattle Pacific's campus.

"We had some good opportunities late – some scoring opportunities that we missed and a couple of turnovers that hurt us," NNU coach Paul Rush said. "We came up empty on a handful of possessions late and the game got away from us in the last couple of minutes."

The Nighthawks led 70-69 with 3 minutes, 54 seconds left in the game and the Seawolves then went on a 12-1 run to pull away.

"They hit some pretty tough shots," senior Adalberto Diaz said. "I really think our defense was good, but they hit some big shots and took advantage of a few screw ups."

Anchorage keyed in on NNU guard Ezekiel Alley all night, holding the Nighthawks' leading scorer to 11 points. Add in that Jayden Bezzant was plagued by foul trouble, picking up his fourth on an offensive foul with 10:12 to go and his fifth on another charge with 2:08 left.

"Both of those guys were making plays and getting other guys open looks," Rush said. "JB was playing really well. He was really aggressive. Him fouling out really hurt us with us not being able to score in that last stretch there."

With the Seawolves defense concentrating on Bezzant and Alley, redshirt freshmen George Reidy and Jaylen Fox stepped up.

Reidy finished with 17 points and Fox had 12 with both hitting big shots in the second half.

Olamilekan Adetunji had 10 points and 11 rebounds in his final game with the Nighthawks (15-11), while Bezzant had eight points and Diaz had 10. Sam Roth added seven points and seven rebounds.

"It's very disappointing," Diaz said. "I think we were capable of more. This team had a higher goal than what we got, but that is the game – you win some and you lose some."

Bezzant, Diaz, Adetunji, Zac Furgerson and Felix White all played for the final time in a Nighthawks uniform. And while they are certainly disappointed with how it ended, they were part of a team that was the first to make back-to-back GNAC tournament appearances.

"We love our seniors and to not be able to coach those guys anymore hurts a lot," Rush said. "We had a special group of seniors and it is going to be hard to see them go."

The Nighthawks have a bright future with Alley, Roth, Reidy and Fox all coming back as well as redshirt freshmen Gabriel Murphy and Cayden Wright and redshirts Kobe Terashima, Christian Rose, Timothy TenKley and Brody Steinhart.

"We're disappointed, but happy for the incoming guys," Diaz said. "Happy for the young guys that got to experience this and now they know what it takes to get to the GNAC tournament and hopefully NNU can keep doing that for years to come.

"I have never been on a team like this where we all love each other, take care of each other and are always together. Every practice was fun and we just challenged ourselves."

Tyler Brimhall's 17 points led Alaska Anchorage (19-13), which will face top-seeded Seattle Pacific in the semifinals at 3:15 p.m. MST on Friday.