By: Evan O'Kelly, Associate Commissioner for Communications

SAN DIEGO – A seven-point halftime lead slipped away from upset-minded No. 7 seed Northwest Nazarene on Friday afternoon at Golden Gym, as No. 2 seed Cal State Dominguez Hills came roaring back for a 66-59 win in the opening round of the 2025 NCAA Men’s Basketball Championships.
 
The Nighthawk offense went cold in the second half, making just 8 of 30 shots (26.7%) and scoring 23 points while the Toros mounted their comeback. CSU Dominguez Hills meanwhile recovered from a 10-for-30 first half (33.3%) to make 11 of 22 shots (50.0%) in the second stanza to snag the victory.
 
“It’s a heartbreaker – I told the guys in the locker room that they can’t let the outcome of this game dictate who they are as people,” said second-year NNU head coach Jon Hawkins. “Dominguez Hills does such a good job of putting pressure on the rim, and we were really trying to change up their pace to force them to play out on the perimeter. They made some really good adjustments.”

 

The Toros (26-5) advance to a second-round matchup against No. 6 seed Central Washington, which beat No. 3 seed Chico State 82-79 in overtime earlier on Friday. Tipoff is set for 5 p.m. (Pacific). The Nighthawks, who finished the regular season as the Great Northwest Athletic Conference runner-up, completed their campaign with a record of 20-8 overall.
 
The Toros’ David Cheatom led all players with 23 points on Friday, making 5 of 8 field goals and all 13 of his free throws in the victory. Adam Afifi added 18 points, five blocks and eight rebounds, and Jeremy Dent-Smith had a 13-point, 10-rebound double-double in the winning effort. The Toros took advantage of 30 trips to the free-throw line, scoring one-third of their points (22) from the stripe. CSU Dominguez Hills also held a narrow 39-36 advantage in rebounding and committed just seven turnovers compared with 10 giveaways by the Nighthawks.
 
Easton Reagan led NNU with 15 points in 25 minutes off the bench, as he connected on 4 of 6 threes to help keep his team in the game. NNU shot often from the arc but hit at a clip of just 29.0% (9-for-31), while shooting 32.7% (18-for-55) overall in the game and 60.9% (14-for-23) from the foul line. Sullivan Menard had 13 points, GNAC Newcomer of the Year Kye Dickson contributed an 11-point, 10-rebound double-double and Briggs Ranstrom also reached double digits with 11 points on the evening. “We are a big team-basketball program, we like to share the ball and everyone trusts each other with the ball,” said Ryzin Bergersen, a fourth-year senior for the Nighthawks. “We try to move the ball, not be selfish and take what the defense gives us.”
 
A triple by Reagan at the 12:05 mark in the first half put NNU up 17-14 – a lead it wouldn’t relinquish the rest of a promising opening period. The Nighthawks appeared to head into the locker room with momentum, with another three by Reagan at the 1:23 mark giving them their largest lead of the night up nine, 36-27. “We really focused on the defensive end – got stops and really let that fuel our offense,” GNAC Defensive Player of the Year Yaru Harvey said on the solid first-half effort. “We trust and love one another and that really took us far. Unfortunately we came up short today, but it was an honor to be in this battle.”
 
 
Things changed after halftime, as the NNU offense stalled with just five points in the first 7:32 of the second half. The Toros took advantage of the cold spell and put up 19 points in the same time span to pull ahead 46-41 on a fastbreak layup by Alex Garcia.
 
NNU momentarily regained command and burst back ahead by two buckets, 54-50 after a Menard three-point play with 5:38 to go. It was the Toros who finished strong as another lull – this time just five points by NNU the rest of the game – doomed the Nighthawks. NNU made just one of its final seven field-goal attempts, as CSU Dominguez Hills played sound defense, made 3 of 5 shots and 10 of 13 free throws in the same span to finish the evening. The Toros won despite their worst 3-point output of the season, making just 2 of 15 shots (13.3%) from the arc.