NAMPA, Idaho – Northwest Nazarene men's basketball jumped out to an early lead and held off a second half run to defeat Simon Fraser 85-64 on Tuesday night.
How It Happened
The Nighthawks opened the game on a 14-4 run, punctuated by back-to-back dunks from
Gabriel Murphy and
George Reidy. Another slam from Reidy brought the lead up to 14, 27-13, at the 8:37 mark of the first half.
NNU would lead by as many as 21 points in the first half, eventually taking an 18-point advantage, 49-31, into the break.
Tru Allen gave the Nighthawks their biggest lead of the game of 24 with a jumper that made it 57-33 two minutes into the second half.
Simon Fraser found a spark, though, and would score 12 unanswered and eventually go on a 20-3 run to cut the NNU lead to just seven, 60-53, at the 12:58 mark.
NNU staved off the comeback attempt, though, building their lead back up to into double digits and over 20 late in the game.
Nighthawks Notes
- NNU improves to 10-8 overall and 8-5 in GNAC play, notching their fifth win in the last six games and fifth-straight home victory.
- Murphy had a career-high 20 points on 8-11 shooting to lead the Nighthawks.
- George Reidy had a great all-around game, scoring 17 points and recording five rebounds, four assists, and three steals.
- James Nelson and Christian Rose both had 12 points and were big on the boards, as Rose had eight rebounds and Nelson seven.
- Tru Allen added 11 points and four steals, while Kobe Terashima had five assists.
- NNU had one of their best shooting nights of the year, shooting 53.2% from the field and 42.9% from deep.
Next Up
The Nighthawks will wrap up the regular season with two more home games, hosting Seattle Pacific on Thursday and Montana State Billings on Saturday. After that, NNU will head to either Lacey or Seattle for the GNAC Tournament next week.
