NAMPA, Idaho - The Nanooks men's basketball team fell to the Nighthawks of Northwest Nazarene on Saturday, Feb. 10. With the loss, the Nanooks are now 5-15, 3-9 GNAC.

NNU improved to 13-8, 9-4 GNAC on the season. 

Despite shooting 64.29% from the floor in the first half, the Nanooks trailed by 20 at the halftime break. Alaska managed only 14 shots but made nine of them while going 10-14 from the free-throw line. Unfortunately, NNU went 21-36 from the floor in the first, shooting 58.3% from the floor. Alaska won the second half 24-22, but it was not enough for Alaska to erase the early deficit. 

In the first, Demarcus Hall-Scriven got the 'Nooks on the board with a jumper at the 18:50 mark. Abdullahi Mohamed would tie the game at 4-4 with a layup 50 seconds later and Nick Hopkins went on to knock down a pair of free throws to tie the game again at 6-6 but those ties would be the last time Alaska was within striking distance as NNU quickly ran their lead into double-digits. After trading buckets, the Nighthawks found a run and their lead hit 10 with 8:32 remaining in the first. Jaycson Bereal, Jr., TJ Doman and Nick Hopkins went back-and-forth with NNU to keep the deficit to single-digits, but the final 3:10 of the first saw NNU's lead reach as many as 21 before they took a 48-28 lead into the locker rooms.

Nick Hopkins connected on a jumper to open the second and cut the NNU lead to 18. Alaska slowly chipped away and cut the deficit to 15, using a Mohamed layup at the 12:00 mark. Following another Nighthawks' run, Mohamed scored eight-straight points to make it a 13-point game with 5:21 left in regulation. The Nanooks would get the deficit to 13 two more times in the final five minutes but that was as close as they'd get as NNU ran away in the end with the 70-52 win. 

Mohamed led the Nanooks with 20 points on 6-10 shooting and an 8-8 performance from the free-throw line. He added two assists and rebounds while blocking one shot. Bereal, Jr. and Hopkins both ended the night with 13 points. Nick Hopkins led the way with nine rebounds.

The Nanooks welcome Western Washington and Simon Fraser to Fairbanks next week. 

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