LACEY, Wash. – With starting point guard Jaden Nielsen-Skinner only playing three minutes, Northwest Nazarene staved off the Saints late rally to pull off the 71-65 result in Nampa.
 
Saint Martin's (14-6, 7-4 GNAC) led by Kyle Greeley's 19 points, and Alex Schumacher's 14, and Brett Reed's 12, were unable to close the gap down the stretch. Trailing by five at halftime, Saint Martin's stormed out of the gates in the second half and eventually took a lead with 16 minutes. However, the defense of Northwest Nazarene (6-7, 4-4) clamped down and used a 10-0 run over five minutes to squeeze out the victory.
 
The Saints jumped out to an early lead over the Nighthawks, with Greeley scoring five of the first seven points. Northwest Nazarene rallied back to take a 20-12 lead with 13:48 left in the half.
 
Northwest Nazarene managed to build up a double-digit lead, but the Saints chipped away down the stretch of the half, closing the gap to just five points.
 
Greeley opened the second half with an old-school 3-point play, followed by a dunk from Marky Adams as the Saints quickly tied it up at 36-36.
 
The Saints took a 1-point lead on three different occasions in the second half but were never able to open a comfortable led. The Nighthawks stayed with the Saints and went on a 10-0 run midway through the half to lead them to a victory, along with 5-for-6 shooting at the line in the final minutes.
 
Saint Martin's continues their road trip with a matchup against Simon Fraser on Thursday at 7:00 PM. Live stats and video will be available on smusaints.com.