NAMPA, Idaho – The Alaska Nanooks men's basketball team fell to 6-6, 1-3 GNAC with a 10-point loss to Northwest Nazarene on Thursday, Jan. 5. The Nanooks are off to Moses Lake, Wash. for a matchup with the Central Washington Wildcats on Saturday, Jan. 7.
The Nanooks hung close in the first, trailing 32-30 after the opening 20 minutes. They shot 46.1% from the floor, besting NNU's 44.8%. In the second, NNU pulled away, outscoring the 'Nooks 40-32 to pull away for the double-digit victory. NNU got on the board first, jumping out to a quick 4-0 lead. The 'Nooks battled back to pull within two at 6-4 on a
Jordan Kanoe layup and
Abdullahi Mohamed layup. The Nighthawks lead grew, but Alaska answered back with six-straight points, taking a 12-10 lead with 13:31 on the clock in the first. The two teams traded leads as the 'Nooks held the lead for the next few minutes until Ryzin Bergersen of NNU connected from deep to make it 18-17 NNU with less than 10 on the clock.
Bryan Nguyen connected from deep two minutes later to tie it and after losing the lead,
Demarcus Hall-Scriven did the same thing, tying the game at 23-23 from downtown. The two traded buckets down the stretch before Hall-Scriven connected with 50 seconds remaining in the half to make it a 32-30 game heading into the half.
Tyler Mrus threw down a dunk only 18 seconds into the second half, tying the game at 32-32 before following up with another nearly a minute later to give the Nanooks a two-point lead. The lead was brief as the Nighthawks fought back to tie it and eventually take the lead back with 17:51 left in regulation. Their lead soon grew to nine at 48-39 on a Tru Allen free throw at the 12:39 mark. Alaska pulled within five with back-to-back buckets by
Mawich Kachjaani, but NNU responded, growing their lead to double-digits and getting up by as many as 14 with 4:50 left.
Unfortunately, the deficit for Alaska reached 16 and the 'Nooks could not mount up enough momentum for a comeback. Mrus made the final field goal of the night with just one second left on the clock, a fastbreak bucket off of a Kanoe steal that made the final 72-62 NNU.
Mrus and
Bryan Nguyen led the way for the Nanooks with 18 points each. They were the only Nanooks in double-digits as Kachjaani was the next closest with six points. Mrus shot 7-11 from the floor, 3-5 from deep, grabbed four rebounds, picked up four steals and added three assists. Nguyen shot 5-11 and 8-8 from the free-throw line.
The Nanooks will play Central Washington on Saturday, Jan. 7 in Moses Lake, Wash. at Big Bend CC.
For more information on the Alaska Nanooks men's basketball team, follow @NanooksMBB on Instagram or Twitter, or like the Alaska Nanooks athletics page on Facebook.
