SAN DIEGO, Calif. – Northwest Nazarene men's basketball saw their season end in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament on Friday, falling to top seed and fourth ranked Point Loma 78-64.
The Nighthawks finish their season at 15-15 overall, earning the final seed in the GNAC Championships and running through the top three seeds to claim the first GNAC title in program history. In their second NCAA appearance, the NNU hung tough with the powerhouse Sea Lions, but a second half run gave PLNU the victory.
NNU came out firing, opening up a quick 8-0 lead after just two minutes of action on a
Gabriel Murphy layup and back-to-back triples from
Ryzin Bergersen.
The Nighthawks would still lead by six, 21-15 with 9:25 remaining in the opening half, but Point Loma then went on a 10-0 run to take a 25-21 advantage with five minutes left.
NNU stopped the bleeding and tied things back up at 25 on a
Tru Allen floater at the 3:43 mark. There was only one more made basket the rest of the half, as Point Loma hit a three with 35 seconds remaining to take a 28-25 lead into the break.
The Sea Lions used the bit of momentum from that triple to break out in the second half, taking a 13-point lead, 45-32, five minutes into the period. NNU rallied back though, showing that they could hang with the top team in the region as a
Tru Allen free throw brought the deficit to just five, 49-44, with 8:49 remaining.
PLNU went on a bit of a run to build the lead back to double digits, but again the Nighthawks battled back to cut it to seven, 60-53, on a triple from Bergersen at the 4:05 mark. That was as close as NNU would come in the final few minutes, however, as Point Loma made a few shots and then converted their free throws down the stretch to take the victory.
Bergersen led the Nighthawks with 19 points, making four threes. Gabe Murphy was next with 14 points and six boards, followed by Allen with 11 points and five assists.
