[Box score]

SAN DIEGO - The Point Loma Nazarene men's basketball couldn't find their shooting stroke Saturday night at Homecoming, falling 53-36 to Northwest Nazarene in a non-conference match in front of an overflow crowd of 1,828 at Golden Gymnasium.

After a promising first few minutes, the Sea Lions struggled to score against the visiting Crusaders' rigid zone defense. The Green and Gold shot just 32 percent from the field, including 2-for-22 from long range and 6-of-21 from the free throw line.

The loss drops PLNU to 1-2 on the season, while the Crusaders improved to 2-1.

On the other end of the court, the Sea Lions played sound defense, limiting NNU to 37 percent shooting and forcing 13 turnovers. They held their opponent under 60 points for the third time in three games this season.

But the Crusaders dominated the boards, outrebounding PLNU 46-32. Additionally, the NNU bench outscored the Sea Lion reserves 31-14, led by Kenny Jones' game-high 15 points.

In the beginning, the Crusaders had no answer to PLNU's motion offense. The Sea Lions kept cutting sharply to the hoop, and their crisp passing led to easy basket after easy basket.

Senior Todd Campbell racked up five assists in the first half alone, including one pass through the middle that led to a slam from freshman Arren Wells.

But with about 15 minutes left to play in the first half, NNU switched to a 3-2 zone defense that stifled the Sea Lions for the remainder of the period.

After the Crusaders' adjustment, the Green and Gold went nearly eight minutes without a field goal before Blair Banker ended the draught with a nifty hook shot.

During the rest of the first half, the Crusaders began to pull away, with PLNU trailed by as many as 11 points. A layup from Banker with 27 seconds to play cut the deficit to 27-18 entering the break.

Both teams combined to shoot an abysmal 30 percent during the first half. The Sea Lions failed to make a single 3-pointer, finishing the half 0-of-7 from behind the arch.

In the second half, the Sea Lions showed some signs of life on offense. With just under 14 minutes to play, freshman Sam Okhotin sank PLNU's first 3-pointer of the game to cut the deficit to just four points at 31-27.

However, that would be the closest the Green and Gold came the rest of the night. NNU's 7'0” Czech center Michal Kurimsky nailed a pair of free throws and threw down a thunderous dunk to end the Sea Lions' run and give his team a comfortable lead once again.

Though they continued to battle, the Sea Lions still could not find their shot and fell by a final score of 53-36.

On Tuesday, the Sea Lions will host Claremont-Mudd-Scripps in a nonconference match in Golden Gymnasium. Tipoff is scheduled for 7:00 p.m.