By: Jenessa Gladstone
Box Score Burnaby, BC - The Simon Fraser University men's basketball team lost a rare weekday matinee to the Northwest Nazarene Crusaders 85-75 on Friday afternoon.
After playing the first six minutes of the contest on Thursday night, a power outage at SFU forced the postponement of the game until Friday afternoon.
“Going in we knew we had to bring a lot of energy," said guard
Dillon Hamilton (Vancouver, BC). "We're a little more undersized now and we have to get used to playing smaller. Guards need to help out on rebounds and make it a team effort. We just waited too long to get started in this one so we have to learn from it.”
Hamilton had six points, three rebounds and three assists in 17 minutes for the Clan.
SFU was led by guard
Elijah Matthews (Washington, DC) who scored 19 points.
Taylor Dunn (Vancouver, WA) chipped in 16 points while Anto Olah (Gold Coast, AUS) helped out adding 18 and eight rebounds.
Kenny Jones led the Crusaders attack with 23 points in the game.
A steal and converted fast break from Matthews started the Clan off strong, as SFU held a one point lead five minutes into the game.
NNU then scored a quick four points to take a 12-9 lead just before the lights went out in the West Gym.
The next afternoon, NNU appeared to come into the postponed game refreshed while SFU had trouble picking up where they had left off on Thursday night.
With 5:13 remaining, Dunn broke a 6-0 Crusaders run to cut the NNU lead to four at 28-24.
Trading baskets, SFU was able to come within one of the Crusaders on multiple occasions but trailed 36-28 at the half.
NNU charged out in the second half and took took a commanding 22-point lead with 12:59 remaining in the game.
SFU then found their outside game, shifting the momentum back to the home team.
Started by a successful three-pointer from Hamilton, a series of beyond-the-arc shots brought the game within 10 for the Clan with 9:28 left on the clock.
With renewed momentum, SFU battled hard and came within seven of the visiting Crusaders on three occasions.
Despite their late effort, the Clan could not overcome the Crusader's lead as NNU held on to win by 10.
With the loss, the Clan fall to 0-4 in Great Northwest Athletic Conference play and 5-6 on the season.
SFU is back in action in the West Gym tomorrow night, Saturday, January 12 when the Clan will host the Central Washington Wildcats at 7:00 p.m.