NAMPA, Idaho – The Crusaders put up a fight, but in the end, fouls and Mark McLaughlin proved to be a bit too much to overcome.

The Great Northwest Athletic Conference's leading scorer, McLaughlin, scored 34 points and grabbed 10 rebounds for Central Washington, which escaped the Johnson Sports Center with an 80-71 victory Saturday night over a determined Northwest Nazarene squad.

"I thought we really battled in the second half after a sluggish start," said NNU coach Dave Daniels, whose team had three weeks off since last beating Walla Walla, 88-82, on Dec. 14.

That sluggish start led to just 26 points for the Crusaders in the first half, yet a Kevin Rima bucket with 7 minutes, 55 seconds gone in the game did give NNU a 16-13 lead.

The Wildcats answered with a 13-0 run, though, including four points from McLaughlin, who had 14 points in the opening session to help CWU to a 36-26 edge at the break.

That lead quickly disappeared in the second half as the Crusaders (3-8 overall, 1-2 GNAC) made a valiant charge, but only after seeing one of their team leaders, Kevin Rima (11.6 ppg, 8.7 rpg), foul out with 13:52 remaining.

"Kevin getting in foul trouble was really difficult, really hurt us," said Daniels, whose Crusaders still closed to 48-46 back on a Michael Loomis 3-pointer.

The Wildcats (5-6, 1-2) answered by stretching their advantage back to a half dozen points before NNU charged within a possession twice more, but never managed to take the lead. 

"I thought we made a couple great runs in the second half with a few separate chances to take the lead, just weren't able to capitalize," said Daniels.

A Jalen Peake 3-pointer thwarted the Crusaders final threat to take the lead and sparked a 15-4 run by the Wildcats, capped by a McLaughlin putback with 4:58 to play that put NNU in a 71-58 hole.

A hole that proved too much to dig out of, though NNU did close to 75-69 down on two Grayson Moore free throws before succumbing.

Mario Donaldson, playing his first game in five weeks, led NNU with 20 points and seven rebounds while Loomis scored 18, Moore had 14 points and seven boards, and Rima finished with 10 points.

"It was really good to have Mario back, he gave us a great boost," said Daniels, whose team returns to action on Thursday and Saturday when NNU hosts Western Oregon and St. Martin's, respectively.