ELLENSBURG, Wash. – Northwest Nazarene men's basketball came up on the wrong end of an instant classic at Central Washington on Saturday, falling on a buzzer-beating three-pointer in overtime by a final score of 91-88.
The Nighthawks move to 14-4 on the season and 7-3 in GNAC play.
Sullivan Menard got the scoring started with a three-pointer 24 seconds into the game, and that ignited a 10-3 run to open the game that was capped by another triple from
Briggs Ranstrom.
The Nighthawks stayed hot over the first 10 minutes, extending their lead up to 25-13 on yet another three from Ranstrom at the 11:36 mark.
Central caught fire from there, however, going on a 19-6 run over the next six minutes to take their first lead of the game, 32-31, with 5:36 to go in the opening half. The Wildcats were able to maintain that lead for the rest of the period, going into the break ahead 44-43.
The Wildcats kept the momentum going to begin the second half, increasing their lead to 13, 56-43, at the 16:27 mark.
The Nighthawks did not go away, going on a run of their own to cut the deficit to three, 65-62, on a
Briggs Ranstrom layup with 8:23 to play. Two minutes later,
Kye Dickson stole a CWU pass and went all the way in for a layup to cut the deficit to two, 70-68.
Dickson kept the pressure, on, tying the game at 78-78 at the 3:54 mark with a tough left-handed driving layup. CWU hit a triple to go back on top, but Biggie Bergersen responded with one of his own to tie it at 81.
With 1:36 to go, the Nighthawks took back the lead for the first time since the first half as
Kye Dickson drove and hit a step-back jumper to make it 83-81. Central tied it up at 83 before the final buzzer though, and the teams went to overtime.
Neither team scored for the first 2:26 of the extra period until
Kye Dickson put NNU up one with a free throw. The Wildcats took the lead back with a pair of free throws, but Dickson again got to the line and swung the lead back to NNU, 86-85, with two free throws with just 56 seconds left.
CWU would nail a deep triple on their next possession though, but once again NNU bounced back as Dickson flushed a put-back dunk. The heroics would go to the Wildcats, however, as Maverick Sanders hit a contested three to beat the buzzer and defeat the Nighthawks.
NNU nearly pulled out the win despite an incredible shooting output from CWU, as the Wildcats made 16 threes and shot 70% (16-23) from beyond the arc. They also went 60% from the field and a perfect 11-11 from the free throw line.
Kye Dickson led all scorers with a 30-point night and pulled down 10 rebounds for a double-double.
Briggs Ranstrom went 3-4 from deep and finished with 18 points, while
Yaru Harvey added 10 points and four steals for the Nighthawks.
NNU will return home next week, hosting Alaska Fairbanks on Thursday and Alaska Anchorage on Saturday. Both games are set for 7:30 p.m. in the Johnson Sports Center.
