GOLDEN, Colo. - Less than a week ago, Northwest Nazarene men's basketball wasn't fully sure that the selection committee was going to give them a berth to the NCAA Championships. On Friday, the men proved that they deserved the selection, dominating four-seed Point Loma and leading from nearly start to finish for an 85-73 victory. 

The win comes in NNU's first-ever NCAA postseason appearance, and was made even sweeter by the fact that the Nighthawks were able to get revenge after falling to the Sea Lions at the beginning of the season.

With the victory, NNU now advances to face top-seed Colorado Mesa in the semifinals of the West Regional, with tip scheduled for 7:30 p.m. on Saturday.

Ezekiel Alley had 20 points to lead the Nighthawks, also tallying four assists and going a perfect 10-10 from the free throw line. Sam Roth scored a season-best 18 points, going 8-12 from the field. Gabriel Murphy had 12 points and seven boards, including four on the offensive end. 

Kobe Terashima also added eight points, six rebounds, and four assists. NNU outshot PLNU 52% to 44% in the game.

The Nighthawks wasted little time trying to outrun the Sea Lions, bolting out to a 19-9 lead on a Roth three-pointer at the 14-minute mark of the first half. The lead never dropped below double digits the rest of the game. The Nighthawks led 23-12 when Roth sunk another three-pointer with 8:46 left to open an 11-0 which culminated on a Roth lay-in that put NNU up 34-13 at the 5:46 mark.

Point Loma chipped away at the lead the rest of the half, coming back to within 12 on a lay-up with 44 seconds to go that brought the Sea Lions within 40-30 at the break.

The two teams traded baskets over the first four minutes of the second half before Murphy hit a lay-in with five minutes gone to build the NNU lead back to 16 points, 50-34. The lead was 14 points when NNU put in a scoring burst that effectively broke the Sea Lions with junior guard Brandon Recek connecting on a three-pointer with 9:37 left that gave the Nighthawks their biggest lead of the game at 64-42.

The Sea Lions drew back within 12 points with 1:17 to go and proceeded to foul for possessions the rest of the way but the Nighthawks made 10 of 10 from the line down the stretch to seal the victory.