NAMPA, Idaho - Northwest Nazarene men's basketball ground out a tough victory at home over Seattle Pacific on Thursday night, taking their first game of 2024 by a final score of 55-52.
 
With the win, the Nighthawks improve to 7-4 overall on the season and continue their strong conference start at 3-0 in GNAC play.
 
SPU scored nine of the first ten points to take a 9-1 lead at the 14:56 mark, but would score just 12 more for the remaining fifteen minutes of the half. The Nighthawks clawed back to tie things at 17 on a Gabriel Murphy layup with 5:24 to go, and took the lead two minutes later on a Christian Rose layup.
 
Yaru Harvey then converted an impressive reverse layup with 1:50 remaining to give NNU their largest lead of the half at four before going into the break with a two-point lead at 23-21.
 
SPU immediately took back the lead with a triple to open the second half, and neither team would hold a lead of more than three points for nearly the whole period. It wasn't until the 5:36 mark when Tru Allen converted a strong driving layup that NNU went up by four, 45-41.
 
The Falcons cut the Nighthawks' lead down to one multiple times in the final minutes, but NNU had an answer every time to not relinquish the lead. Allen and Jaylen Fox would go 4-4 from the line in the final 20 seconds to seal the three-point win.
 
This was the lowest scoring total that SPU has been held to in their 16 games this season, besting the previous mark of 56 points.
 
Allen led all players with 15 points. Aaron Murphy was a couple rebounds shy of a double-double with 11 points and eight boards, while Harvey and Rayzhon Bergersen added eight points apiece.
 
NNU will be back in action in the Johnson Sports Center in just two days, hosting Montana State Billings at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday in a tough GNAC clash.
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