Crusaders Hold Off Western Oregon, 74-70

Travis Kuhns had 19 off the bench to lead the Wolves.

Salem-News.com SPORTS

MONMOUTH - Northwest Nazarene had five players in double figures and held off a last-minute Western Oregon run to win a 74-70 men’s basketball game on Thursday night at the Physical Education Building.

The victory gave the Crusaders a win for head coach Tim Hills against his former team.

Hills led the Wolves program from 2003-05.

The win also improved NNU’s record to 7-10 on the season and to 2-4 in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference.

Western Oregon fell to 6-12 on the season and 1-6 in GNAC play.

The Wolves will get the rest of the weekend off before traveling to Alaska to play Anchorage and Fairbanks next week.

In the first half, Northwest Nazarene used three-pointers to score its first 15 points of the ball game, although WOU’s Larry Hall hit three treys in a row to keep things close.

NNU would later go on a 14-4 run to create a 14-point lead (33-19) with just over five minutes left before intermission.

The Crusaders would lead by as many as 17 points in the first half before settling for a 38-29 margin at the break.

The Crusaders led for almost all of the second half, but Western Oregon wouldn’t go away.

The Wolves crawled to within four points early after the break, but NNU answered.

WOU again made a run with a little over five minutes left and finally tied the game on a Brad Krivchevsky steal and basket just under the five minute mark.

The Wolves would later take their only lead since the opening minutes with 1:45 left on a Travis Kuhns basket, but NNU would then go on a 7-0 run from there to close the door on the hosts.

NNU was led by freshman Justin Parnell’s 18 points, while Jason Simmons added 16.

Kendall Gielow contributed 14, and Louie Beech and Marcus Clift had 12.

Travis Kuhns had 19 off the bench to lead the Wolves, while Hall had 15, Jacob Mitchell 12 and Alex Swerzbin added 12.

NNU hit 12 three pointers on the night (12-34), while Western was just 4 of 18.

WOU also hit only 16 of 27 free throw attempts, while the Crusaders converted 16 of 18.

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