Friday, January 11, 2013

BURNABY, BC – This game gave a slightly different twist to the term “overtime”.

UCLA transfer Kenny Jones scored 23 points and Kevin Rima had a double-double (19 points, 10 rebounds) as Northwest Nazarene defeated Simon Fraser 85-75 Friday afternoon in a Great Northwest Athletic Conference game at West Gym.

The game was the completion of a contest that began Thursday evening, but was suspended early in the first half (at the 13:54 mark) due to a power outage on the SFU campus.

NNU led 12-9 when the lights went out.

The Crusaders (9-4, 3-2) never gave up the lead though Simon Fraser (5-7, 0-4) pulled to within one point twice (20-19 at 9:37 and 22-21 at 9:01) midway through the first half.

NNU, however, rebuilt its lead to eight at halftime (36-28) and then started the second half with a 20-6 surge to go ahead 56-34. SFU closed to within seven points twice in the final four minutes but never got any closer.

Jones, a 6-2 senior guard from Los Angeles, made six of eight shots including his only two three-point attempts.  He also had six assists and four steals.

Rima, a 6-7 sophomore froward from Fairbanks, made seven of 10 field goal attempts and all five of his foul shots.  Seven-footer Michal Kurimsky came off the bench to score 15 points and guard Jonathan Hawkins had 11 points and six assists.

Guard Elijah Matthews, from Washington D.C.,  led Simon Fraser, which made 10 of 22 three-point shots, with 19 points.  Anto Olah had 18 points and eight  rebounds.  Taylor Dunn had 16 points.  Matthews made four of nine treys; Dunn converted on three of six.

Both teams will be back in action Saturday night as the Clan will host Central Washington, while the Crusaders will travel to Bellingham to face fifth-ranked Western Washington.