LA MIRADA, Calif. – Behind a 31-point game from junior
Kye Dickson, Northwest Nazarene men's basketball earned an impressive road victory on Friday afternoon with an 80-68 win over Biola.
The Nighthawks wrap up their nonconference and 2024 portion of the schedule with a 9-1 overall record, the best start to a season since they went 10-1 to open the 2020-21 campaign.
NNU hands Biola just their third defeat of the season, as the Eagles entered the contest with a 9-2 record, with both losses coming to NABC Top-25 teams in Cal State San Bernardino (No. 11) and Point Loma (No. 12).
Dickson's 31 points are a season-best for any NNU player and are the most since Obi Megwa scored 34 against Alaska Fairbanks on Feb. 16, 2019. This was also the first 30-point game for a Nighthawk since Ezekiel Alley had 30 against Colorado Mesa on March 13, 2021.
Biola came out strong to open the game, taking a seven-point lead at 19-12 with a three-pointer at the 13:09 mark.
NNU quickly tied the game at 21 on an
Easton Reagan layup three minutes later, but the Eagles stopped the run before the Nighthawks could take the lead. Over the next nine minutes, Biola outscored NNU 20-11 to take their biggest lead of the game of nine, 41-32, with 2:58 remaining in the opening period.
When the teams reached halftime moments later, Biola's advantage was still at seven points, 43-36. In the first 20 minutes, the Eagles shot a blistering 62.1% (18-29) from the field and 50% (6-12) from deep.
The second half was an entirely different story, however, NNU held Biola to just 25 points on 29.6% shooting and a paltry 8.3% (1-12) from beyond the arc.
The Nighthawks opened the second period with a 7-0 run to tie the game at 43 on a
Sullivan Menard triple at the 18:33 mark. Biola held NNU off momentarily, but the Nighthawks would take their first lead since the opening minutes of the game when a
Yaru Harvey jumper went down to go ahead 55-53 with 11:48 remaining.
From there, Dickson went on a 10-4 run by himself over the next four minutes with a layup, a three, an and-one, and a dunk as the Nighthawks built a 65-57 lead with 8:10 to play.
That run was more than enough to put the game away for NNU, as they added to their lead over those final eight minutes to earn the 12-point victory.
Of Dickson's 31 points, 23 came in the second half. He was 13-18 (72.2%) from the field and 3-5 from deep while just missing a double-double with nine rebounds.
Briggs Ranstrom was the only other Nighthawk to finish in double figures, recording 10 points and three steals.
Sullivan Menard added nine points, and three Nighthawks (
Yaru Harvey,
Easton Reagan, and
Zane Foster) each tallied eight. Harvey also notched six assists.
NNU shot 50% or better for the second-straight game, finishing at exactly 50% by making 32 of 64 shots. The Nighthawks also outrebounded Biola 33 to 28 and were plus-7 in the turnover battle at 9 to 16.
After the holiday break, the Nighthawks will look to keep the momentum rolling when GNAC play picks back up on January 4
th, hosting Central Washington at 7:00 p.m. in the Johnson Sports Center.
