LACEY, Wash. – Northwest Nazarene men's basketball is back in the GNAC Championships for the sixth-straight season, looking to win their second GNAC tournament title in the last three years.
The second-seeded Nighthawks (20-6, 13-5 GNAC) earned a quarterfinal bye as one of the top two seeds. NNU is scheduled to play the winner of 6-seed Alaska Fairbanks and 3-seed Seattle Pacific in the semifinals at noon Pacific on Friday at Saint Martin's Marcus Pavilion in Lacey, Washington.
If the Nighthawks win there, they will advance to the championship game on Saturday evening at 5:00 p.m. Pacific.
2025 GNAC Men's Basketball Championships Links
How They Got Here
NNU earned the two-seed in the tournament with a 13-5 GNAC record, just one game back of Central Washington for the title and two games clear of third place.
The Nighthawks started the season as hot as could be, winning 11 of their first 12 games including their first four GNAC contests. One of those four was what turned out to be a big victory over Central Washington in overtime on Jan. 4, one of just four conference losses for the Wildcats. Alaska Fairbanks gave NNU their first conference loss on the road Jan. 11, but NNU responded with three more wins to go to 7-1 on Jan. 23.
The Nighthawks struggled on the road to close out the conference slate, falling in four straight road games from Jan. 25 to Feb. 15. NNU turned things around from there, though, winning their last four games of the regular season including an impressive 86-83 road victory over Western Washington in the finale on March 1.
GNAC Tournament History
Since the inaugural GNAC Championships in 2011, NNU has appeared in eight of the 14 tournaments. The Nighthawks have claimed one tournament title, coming in 2023 when as the six-seed, they ran the table through three-seed Seattle Pacific, two-seed Montana State Billings, and top seed Saint Martin's. Current senior Biggie Bergersen played a huge part, earning the GNAC Championships MVP.
In the seven appearances, NNU is 6-6 overall in tournament games. The last victory came during that 2023 tourney when they went 3-0. NNU made the tourney just twice in the first eight years, but has now qualified in each of the last six. In the most recent appearance a season ago, NNU was the two-seed but fell to six-seed Alaska Anchorage in the semifinals.
Team Notes
- NNU was picked third in the GNAC Preseason Coaches' Poll, improving on that prediction by one place in the final standings
- 20-6 overall record, just the second time since the school joined Division II in 2001 that the men's basketball program has won 20 games (went 20-8 in 2018-19)
- Started the season 11-1, best start to the season in the program's DII history
- 14-1 overall record and 9-0 mark in conference play at home in the Johnson Sports Center, also best home records as a member of Division II
- Finished second in the GNAC standings at 13-5, tied for best finish in program history (also finished second in 2023-24 and 2021-22)
- NNU was ranked seventh in the latest NCAA Regional Rankings on Wednesday, March 5 – if the Nighthawks finish in the top eight and earn a berth to the NCAA tournament it will be the third NCAA Regional appearance in the last five seasons
- Head coach Jon Hawkins is in his second season at the helm and has seen great success with a 37-16 overall record in the two years
- The Nighthawks did not lose twice to any team in the tournament, going 2-0 against Western Washington this year and 1-1 against the other four participants
- NNU is second in the conference with just 67.9 points allowed per game (30th in DII) and fourth with a +5.3 scoring margin
- NNU leads the GNAC in opponent three-point percentage at 32.7%
- The Nighthawks are second in the conference in rebound margin at +4.5, third in total rebounding at 36 per game, third in offensive rebounds at 11.2 per game
- NNU is third in the GNAC with 3.88 blocks per game
- The Nighthawks lead the conference with 8.35 steals per game
- NNU is 14-3 when they score more than 70 points this season, 6-3 when they are held under 70
- NNU is 17-1 when they hold their opponent to 70 points or less, 3-5 when the opponent scores more than 70
Player Notes
- Kye Dickson, a junior transfer from NC Central, leads the GNAC in scoring at 19.3 points per game
- Dickson is just the second NNU player to ever lead the GNAC in scoring, with the other being Adonis Arms in 2018-19, who went on to start in multiple DI NCAA Tournaments for Winthrop and Texas Tech before spending the last few seasons in the G-League
- Dickson was also named First Team All-GNAC and the conference's Newcomer of the Year (also NNU's second Newcomer of the Year, also Adonis Arms in 2018-19)
- Dickson is the first NNU player to be named First Team All-GNAC since James Nelson in 2021-22
- Dickson has scored in double figures in all but one game this season, coming all the way back on Nov. 15 when he had just seven points in the win over Northern State
- Dickson has scored over 20 points ten times this year, including a 31-point effort in the win over Biola on Dec. 20
- Dickson has tallied nine double-doubles this year, tied for the third-most for an NNU player since joining DII, and most since Maurice Jones had 10 double-doubles in 2017-18
- Dickson is also third in the GNAC with 8.2 rebounds per game and leads the conference with 135 made free throws
- Biggie Bergersen is second on the team in scoring at 10.8 points per game and was named Honorable Mention All-GNAC
- Bergersen is tied for second in the GNAC with 1.9 steals per game and tied for 14th with 2.9 assists per game
- Bergersen also leads the GNAC with 36.2 minutes played per contest
- Yaru Harvey is third on the team with 10.3 points per game and was named the GNAC Defensive Player of the Year along with an Honorable Mention All-Conference nod
- Harvey is the first NNU men's basketball player to earn the conference DPOY
- Harvey is tied for fourth in the GNAC with 1.7 steals per game
- Briggs Ranstrom is fourth on the team with 9.1 points per game and also earned Honorable Mention All-Conference honors
- Ranstrom is tied for 13th in the GNAC with 5.8 rebounds per game and 11th with a 51.9 field goal percentage
- Sullivan Menard is fifth on the team in scoring with 8.7 points per game and has the most three-pointers made with 49
- Easton Reagan contributes 6.9 points per game off the bench
- Seven-footer Zane Foster chips in 5.7 points and 4.7 rebounds per game, while also ranking second in the GNAC with 1.2 blocks per game
- Dickson, Biggie Bergersen, Harvey, and Menard have started all 26 games for NNU, with Ranstrom also starting 24 of the 26. The only games that NNU didn't have that same starting five were the two in Alaska in January when Foster replaced Ranstrom in the lineup
