MONMOUTH, Ore. – Northwest Nazarene men's basketball struggled to find their footing offensively at Western Oregon on Thursday, falling to the Wolves 65-53.
The Nighthawks fall to 12-13 on the year and are now 9-8 in GNAC play with one game remaining in the regular season.
How It Happened
NNU and WOU got off to an extremely cold start offensively, with neither team hitting double digits until the 9:47 mark of the first half when
Timothy TenKley's layup put NNU up 10-9.
That was the last lead that NNU would have in the opening period, as the Nighthawks scored just nine more points in the half and went into the break down 27-19.
WOU's lead quickly grew to 12 a few minutes into the second half, but NNU would go on an 8-0 run to cut the deficit to four, 35-31, at the 12:49 mark.
That was as close as NNU would come, though, as the Wolves built their lead back up to 10 six minutes later and held down the Nighthawks from there for the 12-point win.
Nighthawks Notes
- With the loss, NNU falls into a tie with Western Oregon for fourth place in the GNAC standings. The teams split the regular season matchups, so a potential tiebreaker will be decided if necessary on Saturday based on record against top teams in the conference
- All six spots in the GNAC tournament are clinched by Saint Martin's, MSU Billings, Seattle Pacific, NNU, WOU, and Central Washington – all that is left to determine is seeding after this Saturday's games
- Ryzin Bergersen led NNU on the night with 12 points
- Kobe Terashima was the only other Nighthawk in double figures with 10, along with five rebounds, three assists, and three steals
- Christian Rose and Aaron Murphy both had six rebounds to lead the team
Next Up
NNU heads to Saint Martin's on Saturday to close out the regular season, with the GNAC Championships to follow next week in Bellingham.
