NAMPA, Idaho – Michael Loomis was in the right spot at the right time, all night long.

The true freshman made the Crusaders' patience and extra passes on offense pay off big time as he scored a career-high 33 points to lead Northwest Nazarene to an 85-77 victory over visiting Western Oregon at the Johnson Sports Center on Thursday night.

"Huge conference win. Gutsy," NNU coach Dave Daniels said of the victory over the Great Northwest Athletic Conference-leading Wolves, who entered the night having won six straight.

"We've been talking about creating opportunities for others, and when we've done that we've looked pretty good, and I felt we did that tonight," Daniels added. "We created opportunities for others and made the right pass.

"And Loomis was in the right spot tonight, not by accident."

Loomis – whose previous career high was 21 points which he scored against Seattle Pacific on Dec. 5 and against Walla Walla on Dec. 14 - hit five 3-pointers in the first half and finished with seven triples in the win for the Crusaders (4-8 overall, 2-2 GNAC), who erupted offensively as a team against one of the GNAC's best defenders in the Wolves (10-5, 3-2).

Western Oregon came in leading the GNAC in steals per game (9.3) and were the second best defense in the league in terms of opponent's field-goal percentage (43.2). 

The Crusaders hit 29-of-53 from the field (54.7 percent) though, the second highest outing by any WOU foe, and NNU's 16-of-25 effort from beyond the 3-point line (64.0 percent) proved to be the most 3s allowed this season by the Wolves.

"I just felt like it was a very gusty team win tonight," Daniels said. "I could not be prouder of the way the guys battled."

NNU battled to take the lead late in the first half, erasing a six-point deficit with a barrage of 3-pointers – including three straight from Mario Donaldson – and claimed a 41-35 lead on a Kevin Rima dunk with 2 minutes, 29 seconds left until halftime.

The Wolves closed to 41-40 down at the break, and grabbed a 43-41 lead on an Andy Avgi 3 early in the second half.

Grayson Moore splashed a pair of 3s and Matyas Hering added another in response for NNU, then a Moore dunk put the Crusaders on top 54-46 with 15:11 to play.

The Wolves managed to tie the score, 58-58, on an Avgi bucket, but never slipped in front of the Crusaders.

NNU eventually built a 77-71 lead late on two free throws by Hering, the first of 10 straight in the final 1:32 of action that iced the win.

Hering finished with 12 points for NNU, which next hosts Saint Martin's on Saturday night at 7, while Donaldson added 13 points and four assists and Moore scored 12 points and grabbed seven rebounds.

Avgi led the Wolves with 25 points.