FAIRBANKS - The Nanooks men's basketball team rolled with every punch in their Thursday night matchup with Northwest Nazarene but unfortunately they fell in double overtime to the Nighthawks.

NNU left the Alaska Airlines Gymnasium with a 96-93 victory in a thrilling conference matchup that dropped the Nanooks to 3-9, 1-3 GNAC. This was the third-straight loss for the 'Nooks and their third overtime appearance in their last four games. 

In the first, Northwest Nazarene made more field goals (15-33) than the Nanooks (14-27), but Alaska outshot the Nighthawks 51.85% to 45.45%. NNU held a five-point advantage after the opening 20 minutes. The Nanooks got out to an early 8-4 lead as Nick Hopkins had four early points for the Nanooks. Their early lead would dwindle as NNU would chip away and eventually tie the game at 10-10 with 13:00 on the clock. They'd eventually grab a quick one-point lead but Alaska answered back. After trading buckets, the Nighthawks regained the lead and raced ahead by five. A Trey Anderson dunk and-one brought the Nanooks back to within two with 8:21 left in the first. That's as close as they'd get in the remaining eight minutes; NNU would run up by as many as nine before Alaska made it a five-point deficit heading into the break on a pair of Demarcus Hall-Scriven free throws with just over a minute remaining. 

Out of the locker room, NNU maintained their lead. Alaska pulled within three just a minute in on a jumper from Hall-Scriven, but Northwest Nazarene jumped ahead by seven again. Their lead eventually grew to a dozen at the 11:15 mark. Jaycson Bereal, Jr. sparked a Nanooks comeback around the halfway point of the second as the senior knocked down a jumper and got fouled, making it a nine point lead for NNU. This not only cut the lead to single-digits, but it queued up a 13-0 run for Alaska; they came back to take a 60-59 lead with 7:20 remaining, a run capped off by an Abdullahi Mohamed jumper. The final six minutes of regulation were grueling for both sides. Hall-Scriven connected from deep to give the Nanooks another lead but NNU found another answer and grew their lead back out to five with 4:22 remaining. They'd hold on to a five-point lead heading into the final 1:30. With 1:22 remaining, Ryzin Bergersen made it a 74-69 game with a three-pointer. The Nanooks answered right back as Tyriq Luke connected from deep forcing NNU to take a timeout. Out of the timeout, the Nanooks swarming defense forced a turnover that led to a Mohamed fastbreak bucket to tie the game at 74-74 with 22 seconds left. Their defense would hold strong and force a miss by NNU out of the next timeout and send the game to overtime. In the first OT, Luke got the Nanooks' lead back. NNU was able to answer back and quickly make it an 83-80 lead. Their three-point lead stood until Mohamed went to the line and made it a one-point lead at 85-84 NNU. Hall-Scriven then made one of two free throws, tying the game at 85-85. Another timeout was called and out of the break, Mohamed swatted the potential game-winning shot and the game was headed to a second overtime.

In the second OT period NNU got the scoring started. They quickly ran their lead to four in the opening 1:08 of game clock. Unfortunately they would hold on to the lead the entire period as the Nanooks only managed to tie the game at 89-89 and 91-91. The Nighthawks held a 96-93 lead in the final seconds and Bereal, Jr. had one final look from the corner to tie but it fell short and the game came to a close. 

Mohamed and Bereal led the way for the spirited Nanooks. Mohamed ended the night with 30 points on 9-17 shooting while going 12-12 from the free-throw line. He added four rebounds, four assists, three blocks and three steals. Bereal, Jr. had 23 points, going 8-13 from the floor, 6-6 from the line and added five rebounds, a block and a steal. Tyriq Luke ended the night with 14 points and Hall-Scriven added 11. 

Alaska is back in action on Saturday, Jan. 13 at 3:00 p.m. against the Central Washington Wildcats. All the action can be found on the Alaska Nanooks YouTube page.

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