NAMPA, Idaho - In the first athletic event hosted on campus in 10 months, Northwest Nazarene men's basketball held off a late charge by the Mustangs of Western New Mexico on Thursday night, taking the home opener by a score of 68-59.

A late first-half run by the Nighthawks led to an 18-point lead at the break, but WNMU cut the deficit down to as low as two points during the second period before NNU was able to stave off the comeback attempt.

With the win, NNU improves to 4-1 on the year, while WNMU falls to 0-2. The two squads will be back at it tomorrow night, same time, same place, as they play the second of three games against each other.

The Nighthawks did well crashing the boards on the night, outrebounding the Mustangs 44-30, including 12 on the offensive end that led to 11 second chance points. NNU also finished with a 23-17 advantage in points off turnovers and a 26-17 advantage in bench contributions.

NNU had a balanced offensive attack with four players scoring between 10 and 15 points. Ezekiel Alley led the way with 15, followed by George Reidy with 11 points and five rebounds. Kobe Terashima and Andrew Ferrin both finished with 10 points, with Terashima adding seven assists and Ferrin four blocks.

Western New Mexico was able to jump out to an early 12-9 lead at the 13:30 mark, but NNU countered with a 26-6 run over the next 12 minutes to go up by 17. James Nelson got the run started with a pair of free throws followed by back-to-back layups from Ferrin. In the midst of the run, Reidy tallied an old-fashioned three-point play, Terashima and Alley each splashed in a triple, and Jaylen Fox capped it with a three-pointer of his own to make it 35-19 with 2:15 remaining.

The Nighthawk lead remained at 18 going into halftime, with a Nelson layup making it 40-22 at the break. NNU's largest lead of the game came early in the second half, as another and-one conversion by Reidy put the home team on top by 20, 48-28, at the 16:58 mark.

The Mustangs flipped the momentum in their favor in a hurry, however, going on a 20-2 run over the next five minutes to cut the deficit to just two, 50-48, with 12:19 to play.

The Nighthawks were able to hold off the challenge, though, slowly building their lead back up to double digits on a layup from Gabriel Murphy that made it 64-54 with 2:01 remaining. From there, NNU cashed in a few free throws and came away with the nine-point victory.

As mentioned, NNU and WNMU will face each other again tomorrow night at 6:00 p.m. in the Johnson Sports Center.