BELLINGHAM, Wash. --- The Northwest Nazarene University men's basketball team ended their season on Saturday evening with a 70-63 loss at Western Washington University in a Great Northwest Athletic Conference game on Haggen Court at Sam Carver Gymnasium.

Northwest Nazarene slipped to 17-10 overall, 9-9 in conference play.  Guard Justin Parnell led the Crusaders with game-highs of 17 points and 10 rebounds.

The Vikings, who shot 71.4 percent (15-of-21) percent from the field in the second half, concluded the season 15-12 overall and 8-10 in the GNAC.

The Vikings jumped to an 11-2 lead in the first 4:04 and never trailed, but the game was tied at 29-29 in the opening minute of the second half.  Western then went on a 16-2 run in a little less than seven minutes to take a 45-31 lead with 12:44 to play. 

Western was up by 15, 61-46, with under five minutes left. Northwest Nazarene made a late charge, pulling to within four, 67-63, on a 3-pointer by Joel Ryman with 37 seconds left, and got the ball back after Graham missed two free throws, but Parnell missed a 3-pointer that would have cut the margin to one, and Western guard Andrew Ready then hit two free throws, effectively putting the game away.

Western shot 60.9 percent (28-of-46) from the field for the game.  But the Vikings again struggled from the foul line, hitting just 10-of-24 attempts (41.7 percent) to finish the season at a school-record low 61.2
percent.

Adam Shildmyer had 14 points off the bench for the Crusaders, who shot just 36.9 percent (24-of-65) from the field, but had a 43-27 rebound advantage.