PORTLAND, Ore. - After nearly 10 months without games, Northwest Nazarene men's basketball returned in style with a 75-72 upset of Division I opponent Portland State on Saturday afternoon.

The win marks the second time in three seasons that NNU has defeated a DI foe, as the Nighthawks knocked off the University of Idaho 77-73 in Boise on Nov. 23, 2018.

The only other meeting in program history between the Nighthawks and the Vikings came one day later in 2018, and today NNU avenged a 91-75 loss to PSU in that contest.

"The guys came out really focused against a great opponent," said NNU head coach Paul Rush. "I wasn't sure what kind of energy we'd start with after the long break since the last time we played, but we had put in the hard work and preparation to get back to competition and the guys made the most of it."

Ezekiel Alley led the Nighthawks with a game-high 27 points, while Gabriel Murphy added 18 points, seven rebounds, and five blocks on 8-9 shooting.

"PSU had a great big man, but Gabe did an amazing job both defensively and offensively," said Rush. "He hit some big shots in both halves and really had a breakout game for us. Gabe is a tremendous young man and works extremely hard. He has earned his playing time and it's fun to see his joy and see him have success."

George Reidy also scored in double figures with 16 points and seven boards, while Kobe Terashima added eight assists in his NNU debut.

Both teams shot just under 50% from the field, but NNU was able to hold PSU to just 26% (5-19) from deep while converting 7-18 (39%) of their own. The Nighthawks also had the advantage from the free throw line, converting 10-14 (71%) to PSU's 11-20 (55%). 

NNU also finished with a 23-17 advantage in points off turnovers.

The Nighthawks started hot, scoring the first eight points of the game. The early lead grew to 15-5 on a Murphy layup with 14:55 to go in the half. 

Portland State battled back, cutting the lead to just one, 20-19, with 8:33 to go. NNU countered with a 7-0 run this time, as Murphy tallied five of the seven points including a triple. The Vikings took the momentum back late in the half, taking a three-point lead before Sam Roth banked in a trey just before the buzzer to go to halftime tied at 34.

The teams traded buckets for the first eight minutes of the second period, until Alley dropped in back-to-back triples to give the Nighthawks a 54-47 lead with 10:28 to play. NNU would go up by as much as nine down the stretch, but the Vikings did not go away quietly. After NNU led 67-58 with five minutes to go, PSU went on a 7-0 run to cut the Nighthawk lead to two with just under 90 seconds remaining.

Alley iced the game for the Nighthawks, though, hitting a jumper fading to the left with a hand in his face to beat the shot clock with 52 seconds to play. Six free throws later, NNU came away with the 75-72 victory.

"Zeke had been bugging me for a while to schedule more DI opponents, so he was really excited when we were able to add this game on such short notice," said Rush. "He definitely rose to the occasion and showed that he is capable of doing great things against high-level competition."

The Nighthawks' updated schedule for the 2021 season is set to be released early next week.