SEATTLE – Northwest Nazarene men's basketball wasn't able to complete a late comeback attempt on the road Thursday night, eventually falling to Seattle Pacific 72-62.
The Nighthawks are now 16-5 overall and 9-4 in GNAC play, slipping to third in the conference standings behind CWU and SPU.
SPU made their first five shots of the game to take an early 11-3 lead after four minutes of action.
The Falcons still led 15-10 at the 12:27 mark, but the Nighthawks then went on a 14-0 run over the next five minutes to go up 24-15.
The seesaw battle continued, as SPU countered with a 12-2 run of their own to regain the lead at 27-26 with 4:10 to go in the opening half. The Falcons' momentum continued, taking a four-point lead into the break, 34-30.
NNU fought back to tie the game at 42 on a
Briggs Ranstrom triple, but SPU pulled back ahead by eight with a 9-1 run put the Falcons up 51-43 with 10:08 to play.
Trailing by 11, 63-52, with 3:18 remaining, the Nighthawks had one more run in them.
Easton Reagan started it with an old-fashioned three-point play,
Briggs Ranstrom added a layup, and then stole the ball on the next SPU possession and dished it forward to
Kye Dickson for a two-handed dunk.
The Falcons stopped the 7-0 run with two free throws, but a triple from Biggie Bergersen cut the deficit down to three, 65-62, with 67 seconds left.
That was where the late comeback attempt ended, though, as SPU converted an and-one on their next possession and put the game away at the free throw line after that.
Ranstrom led NNU with 25 points, followed by Dickson with 12 and Reagan with 11. Bergersen finished with seven points, six assists, and three steals.
The Nighthawks now fly to the Treasure State this Saturday to take on Montana State Billings at 7:30 p.m. After that, they come back home for the final two home games of the regular season against Saint Martin's and Western Oregon.
