NAMPA, Idaho – Northwest Nazarene men's basketball continued their dominant play as of late, shutting down Montana State Billings 76-41 in the regular season finale on Saturday night.
How It Happened
It was a bit of a slow start, as MSUB led 6-5 after the first five minutes of action. NNU then went on a 10-0 run, including a dunk from
Christian Rose and four points from
Julian Agosto, to take a 16-6 lead at the 11:53 mark.
Tru Allen buried a deep triple two minutes later to put the Nighthawks up 14, 23-9. Still holding a 13-point lead, 33-20, with 3:06 to go before the break, NNU closed the half on another 10-0 run. The run included a pair of threes from Allen and
Timothy TenKley and a buzzer-beating jumper from
Kobe Terashima, putting NNU up 43-20.
That run kept going into the second half, as NNU scored the first eight points to go up by 31, 51-20, after back-to-back buckets from
Gabriel Murphy.
The Nighthawks cruised from there, leading by as much as 42, 76-34, after a
Brody Steinhart layup with 2:54 to play.
Nighthawks Notes
- NNU improves to 12-8 on the year and finishes 10-5 in GNAC play.
- The Nighthawks close the regular season on a four-game win streak and half won seven of their last eight.
- The last two wins have been by over 30 points, while the last three have been by at least 20 points.
- In all seven of the wins during that stretch, NNU has held their opponent to 66 points or less.
- NNU has now won the last seven matchups against MSUB, with the last loss coming on the road in December of 2017.
- Tru Allen led the Nighthawks with 19 points, going 7-12 from the field and 3-6 from deep.
- George Reidy added 11 points, four rebounds, and two steals, while Gabe Murphy was also in double figures with 10 points and six rebounds.
- Kobe Terashima had seven rebounds, four assists, and two steals, while Julian Agosto notched four steals, six rebounds, and eight points.
- NNU shot 46.8% in the game compared to just 24.6% for the Yellowjackets.
- The Nighthawks outrebounded MSUB 51-32 and limited the Yellowjackets to just three assists.
- NNU also had a massive advantage in the paint of 40-12.
Next Up
The GNAC Tournament will be next week from March 2-5, dually hosted by Saint Martin's and Seattle Pacific. All 10 teams are invited this year, and NNU will find out their seeding and opening game location later tonight once all games are completed.
