by By Josh Burkholder
NAMPA, Idaho – Northwest Nazarene men’s basketball battled Nazarene west coast rival Point Loma for an exciting 40 minutes on Saturday night, but it was ultimately the Sea Lions who put together the final run of the game and held on to defeat the Nighthawks 73-70.
The Nighthawks fall to 2-3 on the season and wrap up the opening portion of non-conference play, with GNAC action starting on the road next week.
Point Loma opened strong to take a 12-7 lead at the 12:40 mark, but the Nighthawks responded with an 8-0 run. Aaron Murphy had a free throw, Christian Rose a layup, Rayzhon Bergersen a triple, and Tru Allen a layup to put NNU up 15-12 with 9:42 to play in the opening half.
A pair of free throws from Rose would give the Nighthawks their largest lead of the night at seven points, 21-14, at the 8:19 mark.
The Sea Lions fought back, though, going on a 13-4 run over the next three minutes to take a 27-25 lead with five to go before the break. The two teams would go back-and-forth for those five minutes, with PLNU eventually up by one, 37-36, at halftime.
Neither team was able to take a lead of more than two in the second half until the 14:25 mark when Gabriel Murphy put NNU up 45-42 with a jumper. Point Loma went on a run from there, though, outscoring NNU 14-4 over the next five minutes to go up 56-49.
Not to be outdone, the Nighthawks countered with seven straight points as Jaylen Fox notched a steal and fastbreak layup, Aaron Murphy knocked down a pair of free throws, and Ryzin Bergersen converted a steal into an and-one layup to even the score at 56 with 7:10 to play.
The Sea Lions responded with another run, however, scoring 11 of the next 13 points to go up by eight, 67-59, with three minutes to play. It was then NNU’s turn, as an 8-2 run including an Aaron Murphy free throw, Biggie Bergersen triple, and four points from Tru Allen cut the PLNU lead all the way down to two, 69-67, with 53 seconds remaining.
The Sea Lions would make critical free throws down the stretch, however, and a potential game-tying three-pointer from Biggie Bergersen hit off the back rim as time expired for a 73-70 PLNU victory.
PLNU was red hot from deep in the game and in the first half in particular, going 7-10 (70%) over the opening 20 minutes and finishing the game at 54.5% (12-22) from beyond the arc.
Despite the hot shooting, the Nighthawks were able to stay in the game due in large part to the turnover disparity, with PLNU committing 18 and NNU committing just eight, leading to a 21-9 advantage in points off turnovers.
Neither team led by more than eight points in the contest. Point Loma’s Jake Lifgren led all players with 26 points, going 7-10 from the field and 4-6 from deep.
NNU was led by 20 points, five rebounds, and three steals from Tru Allen. Aaron Murphy added 12 points and Gabe Murphy tallied 10 points and five boards.
