GOLDEN, Colo. - Northwest Nazarene men's basketball's magical run in their first-ever NCAA Tournament appearance came to an end on Monday night, as the fifth-seeded Nighthawks fell to the two-seed and regional host Colorado School of Mines Orediggers in the regional final, 84-52.

Already making history as the first NNU men's basketball team to reach the NCAA postseason, the Nighthawks were not satisfied with simply earning that accolade. NNU exacted revenge on Point Loma in the opening game of the tournament, avenging a 30-point loss early in the season to take down the Sea Lions 85-73. On Saturday, NNU pulled off the upset of top-ranked Colorado Mesa, and did so with relative ease as they came away with a 74-54 victory to reach the Sweet 16.

At the end of the tournament, senior guard Ezekiel Alley capped off his amazing season with a selection to the NCAA DII West Region All-Tournament Team. Alley had 20 points in the win over Point Loma and followed that up with a career-high 30 in the downing of Colorado Mesa, including a 6-9 mark from beyond the arc.

In tonight's game, Alley finished with 10 points to lead the Nighthawks. George Reidy had eight points and three assists, while Gabriel Murphy had six points and nine rebounds.

NNU came out of the gates strong, with James Nelson putting in a pair of put-backs in the paint and Andrew Ferrin converting an and-one to put the Nighthawks up by six, 15-9, at the 13:19 mark of the opening half. Mines would counter with a 12-2 run, though, to take a 21-17 lead at the 9:09 mark.

The Orediggers didn't slow down from there, building a lead of 15, 42-27, at halftime. The advantage quickly grew to 20 early in the second half, and Mines held off all hints of a Nighthawk comeback the rest of the way to advance to the Elite Eight.

NNU has nothing to hang their heads about whatsoever, though, leaving as one of the final 16 teams standing across all of Division II. The Nighthawks finish the unique 2020-21 season with an overall record of 13-5, including a win streak of nine games from Jan. 16 to Feb. 20.

And they will always be able to say that they were the first men's basketball team from Northwest Nazarene University to earn a bid to the NCAA Division II Men's Basketball Championships.