NAMPA, Idaho – Northwest Nazarene men's basketball picked up a huge home win on Tuesday night, knocking off the top team in the GNAC standings with a 71-65 victory over Saint Martin's.
How It Happened
- NNU was the first to build a significant lead, as a quick 5-0 run of a Tru Allen three and Gabriel Murphy layup put the Nighthawks up eight, 20-12, at the 13:48 mark.
- The Nighthawks extended the lead to 11 four minutes later, when a George Reidy layup made it 27-16.
- Saint Martin's bounced back towards the end of the half, cutting the Nighthawk lead to five at the break, 36-31.
- The Saints then took their first lead since the opening moments, as a Tyke Thompson triple put SMU up 41-40 at the 16:25 mark.
- NNU still trailed by one with 10:43 to play, but responded with 11 unanswered points all from Allen and James Nelson to go up 10, 62-52, with 6:40 remaining.
- SMU cut the lead down to four with 1:23 to play, but the Nighthawks were able to convert their free throws from there to take the six-point win.
Nighthawks Notes
- NNU improves to 4-4 in GNAC play and 6-7 on the year.
- The Nighthawks have now won five straight matchups against Saint Martin's, with four coming last season.
- Tonight's game was the first of the season that every NNU player on the roster was active, with none out due to injury or COVID protocols.
- Reidy led the Nighthawks with 18 points, three assists, three rebounds, and three steals.
- Allen was next with 16 points, followed by Christian Rose with 11.
- Timothy TenKley added nine points off the bench, going 3-3 from deep.
- Saint Martin's shot over 50% in the game, but NNU limited the Saints to 15 less total shot attempts due in large part to forcing 22 SMU turnovers.
- NNU only turned the ball over 13 times, and finished with a 26-14 advantage in points off turnovers.
Next Up
The Nighthawks have two more home games this week, hosting Alaska Anchorage on Thursday and Alaska Fairbanks on Saturday.
