NAMPA, Idaho – Northwest Nazarene men's basketball hung tough with the top team in the GNAC on Thursday night, but fell in the final seconds to Montana State Billings 60-58.
The Nighthawks move to 7-11 on the year and 4-6 in GNAC play.
How It Happened
After going down 5-0 early, NNU rallied to take a 14-9 lead with 14 minutes to go in the first half after a triple and a jumper from
Yaru Harvey.
MSUB came back to take a 21-19 lead with 7:25 to play, but the Nighthawks responded with three straight threes from
Aaron Murphy,
Gabriel Murphy, and
Tru Allen to go up seven, 28-21.
The Yellowjackets would bounce back with five points in the final two minutes, though, cutting the NNU lead to just two, 28-26, at the break.
Neither team would lead by more than four in the second half until the 8:35 mark, when MSUB took a 52-47 advantage. NNU would respond, though, coming back to take the lead 55-54 with 2:39 remaining on a pair of free throws from Harvey.
The lead would exchange hands a few times over the final two minutes, but it was MSUB who went up by two late. The Yellowjackets would miss a pair of free throws with eight seconds to play to give NNU a chance to tie or win, but Allen's three-pointer and
Aaron Murphy's putback attempt were both off the mark as time expired.
Nighthawks Notes
- The Nighthawks outrebounded the Yellowjackets by one, 32-31, but had a decisive advantage in second chance points at 16-4
- Harvey led the Nighthawks with 14 points, followed by 12 from Allen and 11 from Gabe Murphy
- Murphy just missed a double-double as he added nine rebounds as well as three assists
- Aaron Murphy also had nine boards along with seven points
Next Up
NNU stays home for another game in the Johnson Sports Center, hosting Seattle Pacific on Saturday.
