NAMPA, Idaho – Northwest Nazarene men's basketball officially opened the 2025-26 campaign in style on Saturday, putting on an offensive clinic in a 91-67 victory over UC Merced.
With the victory, NNU has now won 11 consecutive season openers, all coming in the Johnson Sports Center.
Parker Martens got things going with a three on the first possession, and after a
Jaden Byers layup broke a 4-4 tie moments later, NNU would keep the lead for the rest of the game.
Byers' layup started a 14-4 Nighthawks run that culminated in a
Briggs Ranstrom layup to make it 18-8 at the 14:24 mark. The lead grew to as much as 14 multiple times in the first half before NNU went into the break up 12, 43-31.
The second half was all Nighthawks, starting with a 6-0 run on a Byers layup,
Easton Reagan dunk, and
Garrett Hawkes layup to put NNU up 18.
The Nighthawks did not let up in the slightest for the first eight minutes of the half, as the run grew to 24-5 with a pair of free throws from
Ethan Berninger making it a 31-point lead, 67-36, with 11:43 to play.
A Hawkes triple at the seven-minute mark gave NNU its largest lead of the game of 36 points, 82-46. The Nighthawks coasted to the victory from there, taking the 91-67 win.
NNU's three-point shooting was exceptional in the game, going 14-25 (56%) from deep compared to a 5-21 (23.8%) effort from the Bobcats.
The 14 triples were the most in a game for NNU since going 14-28 (50%) at Cal State Los Angeles on Dec. 17 of last season. The last time that the Nighthawks went over 50% from deep (minimum 10 attempts) was back on March 2, 2023 when they went 9-16 (56.3%) in a GNAC quarterfinal victory over Seattle Pacific.
The offensive attack was incredibly balanced, with six players scoring in double figures.
Briggs Ranstrom led the way with a near double-double of 15 points and eight rebounds, while also adding three steals and a block.
Easton Reagan,
Jaden Byers, and
Ethan Berninger all scored 14 points, followed by
Garrett Hawkes and
RJ Chatman with 10 apiece. Ranstrom, Berninger, and Chatman were each 3-4 from beyond the arc.
The Nighthawks will now look to get revenge on rival College of Idaho in just three days, hosting round two of the United Heritage Mayors' Cup on Tuesday, Nov. 18 at 7:07 p.m. in the Johnson Sports Center. In last Tuesday's exhibition game in Caldwell, the Yotes were victorious by a score of 75-64.
