Box Score

ELLENSBURG, Wash. – Northwest Nazarene senior Mario Donaldson scored a career-high 21 points, but it wasn't enough as Central Washington used a late second-half surge to pull away and beat the Crusaders 86-66 on Saturday night in Great Northwest Athletic Conference men's basketball.

The difference turned out to be a mediocre 20-of-50 night shooting (40 percent) that allowed the Wildcats, who shot a blistering 31-of-52 (59.6 percent), to pull away.

"We had good looks at the basket and just couldn't get the shots to drop," NNU coach Dave Daniels said.

Donaldson hit 10-of-10 free throws in the game for the Crusaders (5-13 overall, 3-7 GNAC), helping keep NNU close.

Two of those free throws trimmed the Wildcats lead to 42-34 with 2:16 left in the first half, and two more Donaldson charity tosses made the difference just 64-54 with 10:59 remaining in the game.

That's when the Wildcats (10-8, 6-4) put the game away with a 16-2 surge over the next 4:24 to ice the win.

Donaldson added four assists in the game, while teammate Michael Loomis added 20 points and five rebounds and Kevin Rima scored 10 points and grabbed five rebounds for NNU, which next plays at St. Martin's on Thursday.

"Loomis and Mario had strong offensive nights for us," Daniels said.

Mark McLaughlin scored a game-high 29 points to lead Central Washington.