ELLENSBURG, Wash. - Northwest Nazarene men's basketball is on the campus of Central Washington University for the 2024 GNAC Championships, looking to defend their 2023 tournament title starting in the semifinals on Friday.

As the two-seed, the Nighthawks received a bye through Thursday's quarterfinals and will play 6-seed Alaska Anchorage at 5:15 p.m. PT/6:15 PM MT on Friday at Nicholson Pavilion in Ellensburg. UAA upset 3-seed Saint Martin's in the quarterfinal on Thursday night.

GNAC Men's Basketball Championships Schedule
All games at Nicholson Pavilion in Ellensburg, Wash. | All Times Listed in Pacific Time
Thursday, March 7:
Quarterfinal 1: 5:15 pm – No. 3 Seed Saint Martin's vs. No. 6 Seed Alaska Anchorage
Quarterfinal 2: 7:15 pm – No. 4 Seed Central Washington vs. No. 5 Seed Seattle Pacific
Friday, March 8:
Semifinal 1: 5:15 pm – No. 2 Seed Northwest Nazarene vs. Winner of Quarterfinal 1
Semifinal 2: 7:30 pm – No. 1 Seed Montana State Billings vs. Winner of Quarterfinal 2
Saturday, March 9:
7:30 pm – Winner of Semifinal 1 vs. Winner of Semifinal 2

Fan Information
Tickets for the GNAC Basketball Championships are available at GNACtickets.com. Tournament passes, good for all men's and women's games, are $60 for adults and $40 for students, children and seniors. Individual session prices, which include two games per session, are $15 for adults and $11 for students, children and seniors.

All games will be live-streamed on the conference's YouTube page, GNAC.tv. Live stats for all games will be at CWU's men's basketball stats portal.

Parking will be enforced on the CWU campus from 7:30 am-4:30 pm Thursday and Friday during the GNAC Championships. Daily passes are available for $6 per vehicle in the parking lot in front of Nicholson Pavilion (Q-14), with overflow parking by the psychology building (S-10). There is an electronic stand in the parking lot of Nicholson Arena for fans to purchase daily parking passes, as well as online at the CWU Parking Site. A detailed parking map of the CWU campus is available online at CWU.edu. There is also free parking available in lots X-12 and X-22 situated north of Tomlinson Field and the baseball and softball fields.

GNAC Championships History
Northwest Nazarene is making its fifth consecutive GNAC Championships appearance, second only to Seattle Pacific's six in a row. NNU's best finish at GNACs came just one season ago, when as 6-seed they defeated the 3, 2, and 1 seeds to claim the tournament title. Ryzin Bergersen was named the GNAC Championships MVP.

The Nighthawks are 6-5 all-time in the GNAC Championships, including 1-0 against Montana State Billings, 1-0 against Saint Martin's, 1-1 against Central Washington, 1-2 against Seattle Pacific, and 0-1 against Alaska Anchorage.

Of the tournament teams, Seattle Pacific has claimed the most tournament titles in the conference's history with four, winning in 2013, 2014, 2015, and 2019.

Road to the No. 2 Seed
Coming off the NCAA tournament run and returning a lot of talent, the Nighthawks had high expectations and were projected to finish second in the conference standings in the GNAC Preseason Poll, but struggled a bit to find their footing at the beginning of the year. NNU went 2-3 over the first five non-conference games before opening GNAC play with a stunning road victory over then-No. 6 Saint Martin's in overtime. 

After a stretch of three losses in four games from Jan. 6-20, the Nighthawks were just 8-7 overall and 4-3 in GNAC play, stuck in the middle of the pack of the conference standings. NNU turned things around from there in a huge way, though, winning nine of their last 11 regular season games, capped by an overtime win over Saint Martin's to clinch the 2-seed in the conference tournament.

NCAA Tournament Projections
In the latest NCAA Regional Rankings released on Wednesday, NNU was slotted in the eighth and final qualifying position entering the conference tournaments. In order, the rankings are Cal State San Bernardino (CCAA), Cal State Los Angeles (CCAA), Montana State Billings (GNAC), Cal State Dominguez Hills (CCAA), Chico State (CCAA), Saint Martin's (GNAC), Point Loma (PacWest), NNU (GNAC), Academy of Art (PacWest), and Cal State East Bay (CCAA).

Obviously, if NNU wins the GNAC tournament, they will receive the conference's automatic bid and not need to worry about the selection show on Sunday night at 9:00 p.m. MT. Winning their semifinal game and advancing to the GNAC final would also go a long way towards remaining in the region's top eight teams. The Nighthawks also hope that no surprise teams win either the CCAA, PacWest, or GNAC tournaments (surprise teams meaning teams currently below NNU in the regional rankings), because that would mean that there is one less bid up for grabs among the top eight teams if an auto bid went to a team that would not make it in otherwise.

Team Notes

• Finished the regular season 17-9 overall and 13-5 in GNAC play to finish second in the GNAC standings
• 13-5 mark in GNAC play is the best in program history in head coach Jon Hawkins' first season at the helm of the program
• NNU went 11-3 at home this year, 6-4 on the road, and 0-2 in neutral site games
• Looking to be back-to-back GNAC Tournament Champions for just the second time in conference history (SPU won three in a row from 2013-15)
• Have won nine of their last 11 games entering the conference tournament
• 20^th in the nation in scoring defense at 66.6 points allowed per game and 17^th nationally with a +3.7 turnover margin
• The Nighthawks are 11-3 when holding teams to 70 or less points and 10-3 when they score 70 or more points
• Three Second Team All-GNAC players: Tru Allen, Gabe Murphy, and Ryzin Bergersen
• Team has two pairs of brothers that are all significant contributors: Gabe & Aaron Murphy and Ryzin & Rayzhon Bergersen

Player Notes

• In his final year as a Nighthawk, Gabriel Murphy earned All-Conference honors for the third time in his career. Through the end of the regular season, he is third on the team with 11.9 points per game, leads the team and is fourth in the GNAC with 7.7 rebounds per game, first on the team and fifth in the GNAC with a 55.3 field goal percentage, and is the conference leader and 17th nationally with 3.4 offensive rebounds per game. He had five double-doubles this year and was one rebound shy of three more. One of his best games of the year came in the first win over Saint Martin's on Nov. 30, scoring 24 points, pulling down 10 boards, and registering three blocks.
• Tru Allen has also been on all-conference teams in each of the past three seasons, but this is his first time on the Second Team after a pair of Honorable Mention nods. He leads the Nighthawks and is tied for 13th in the GNAC with 13.3 points per game, leads the team and is ninth in the GNAC with 2.9 assists per game, and leads the conference and ranks sixth in all of Division II with 2.6 steals per game. He has been in double-figure scoring in 18 of his 24 games played this year, including each of last seven games of the regular season. He also recorded at least one steal in all but two games, with 13 games of three or more steals.
• Ryzin Bergersen (Biggie) earned the first All-Conference honor of his career with the Second Team recognition. He is second on the Nighthawks and 15th in the GNAC with 13.2 points per game, second on the team and tied for second in the GNAC with 1.9 steals per game, and fifth in the conference with 2.2 threes made per game. He made at least one three-pointer in all but two games this year and has scored in double figures in 10 of the last 11 games.
• Aaron Murphy is fourth on the team with 10.2 points per game and second with 6.0 rebounds per game, while Christian Rose is fifth on the team with 7.0 points per game and third with 5.0 rebounds per game.
• Jaylen Fox has started 21 of the 26 games, playing great defense and ranking third on the team with 43 assists. Rayzhon Bergersen has been a solid backup point guard in his redshirt freshman season, registering 40 assists, 21 steals, and shooting 56.1% from the field.
• A pair of other redshirt freshman have seen significant minutes, with Nathan Perez averaging 4.3 points per game and making 17 triples and Easton Reagan scoring 3.2 points per game.