Wednesday, February 17, 2021
INDIANAPOLIS – Northwest Nazarene is on the path towards a potential postseason berth.
The Nighthawks are among eight teams listed as “under consideration” in the first NCAA Division II West Region Rankings of the 2020-21 season, which were announced on Wednesday. They are the only GNAC team included in this week’s rankings.
Northwest Nazarene enters the week with an 8-1 overall record but has not played a counting contest since Jan. 30 when it posted a 94-72 win over Saint Martin’s. The team’s last game was a 93-81 exhibition win over NAIA Lewis-Clark State on Feb. 5. The Nighthawks’ record includes a 75-72 season-opening victory over Division I Portland State on Jan. 9 and a 7-1 record against Division II teams.
Senior guard Ezekiel Alley leads Northwest Nazarene in scoring at 18.6 points per game and is ranked 15th in Division II with a .492 three-point percentage. Sophomore guard George Reidy is averaging 13.9 points per contest. As a team, the Nighthawks are averaging 78.9 points per game and are 18th in Division II with 16.6 assists per game.
Northwest Nazarene will host Saint Martin’s on Friday and Saturday before closing out its regular season with games at Seattle Pacific on Feb. 26 and 27.
The other seven teams included in the first West Region ranking include Biola (5-2), Colorado Mesa (14-1), Colorado Mines (12-0), Fresno Pacific (4-0), Hawaii Hilo (5-1), MSU Denver (7-6) and Point Loma (5-0).
Beginning this year, the first two regional rankings provided by the regional advisory committee do not list teams by their rank but rather as an alphabetical list of teams “under consideration” for postseason selection. The third week will feature an actual ranking of eight teams. The NCAA will announce the six teams selected for the postseason from each region on Sunday, March 7.
The NCAA Division II Men’s Basketball Championship will begin with regional rounds commencing on Friday, March 12. The West Regional will be held at Colorado School of Mines in Golden, Colorado.
Due to the reduced number of teams competing in the West Region due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the region is comprised for the 2020-21 season of teams from the GNAC, PacWest Conference and Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference.