ANCHORAGE, Alaska - Northwest Nazarene men's basketball made a late comeback after trailing by double digits for much of the second half, but Alaska Anchorage was able to hold on for a 71-68 win over the Nighthawks on Saturday night.
 
The Nighthawks fall to 8-6 overall on the season and 4-2 in GNAC play.
 
UAA had the upper hand to start as NNU struggled to find a basket, with the Seawolves taking a 10-2 lead after five minutes of action. The Nighthawks turned things around in a hurry, though, going on an 8-0 run to tie the game at 10 on an Easton Reagan bucket at the 12:22 mark.
 
The Seawolves withstood the run, however, and would go back on top until a Yaru Harvey layup gave the Nighthawks their first lead of the game at 25-23 with 4:56 to go in the opening half. The lead was short-lived, though, as UAA scored the next 13 points in a row and closed the half on a 17-3 run to go into the break up 40-28.
 
The Nighthawks' deficit remained around double digits all the way until the final five minutes after UAA held a 60-49 lead. Ryzin Bergersen then drained a three to spark a 10-2 NNU run, with a Rayzhon Bergersen layup cutting the UAA lead to just three at 62-59 with 2:33 to play.
 
UAA responded with a quick 5-2 run, however, to regain control. The Nighthawks kept fighting, as a Ray Bergersen layup brought the deficit down to two, 70-68, with five seconds remaining. After UAA went 1-2 from the free throw line, NNU had a chance to tie at the buzzer but could not get a shot off in the final seconds.
 
Aaron Murphy led the way for NNU with 15 points and seven rebounds, followed by Ray Bergersen with 13 points and five assists.
 
Christian Rose added nine points and five boards. NNU took just six three pointers in the contest and made four of them, with two from Biggie Bergersen, one from Ray Bergersen, and one from Jaylen Fox.
 
NNU will be back out on the road for their lone game of next week, visiting Central Washington on Saturday, Jan. 20 at 6:15 p.m. Pacific (7:15 p.m. Mountain).
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