AZUSA, Calif. – Northwest Nazarene men's basketball continued their early-season struggles on Friday with a 78-71 loss at Azusa Pacific.
How It Happened
- It looked as if the Cougars were going to have the upper hand early, as the home team got out to a 13-point lead, 34-21, with 4:03 remaining in the opening half.
- The Nighthawks stormed back before the break, though, closing the half on a 13-2 run to go into halftime trailing by just two, 36-34.
- NNU grabbed the lead for the first time since the opening moments of the game when George Reidy made a jumper at the 15:42 mark that made it 42-41.
- The Cougars took the lead back around five minutes later, though, and would keep it a four to seven-point game most of the rest of the way.
- The Nighthawks did cut it to two with 53 seconds to play, but were outscored 6-1 over the remaining time to fall by seven.
Nighthawks Notes
- NNU falls to 1-3 on the year with their third-straight road defeat.
- Reidy led the Nighthawks with 16 points and five boards.
- Gabriel Murphy had another great game, notching his third double-double in the four games this year with 15 points and 12 boards. Six of the 12 rebounds came on the offensive end.
- Murphy has now pulled down more than 10 rebounds in all four contests, averaging 11.5 per game.
- Christian Rose was also in double-figures, scoring 11 points and grabbing seven rebounds.
Next Up
The Nighthawks will now jump in to conference play next week, visiting Montana State Billings on Thursday and Seattle Pacific on Saturday.
