NAMPA, Idaho – The Northwest Nazarene men's basketball team played its best game in weeks Thursday, but fell short of a monster upset losing to No. 4 Western Oregon 70-67 in a Great Northwest Athletic Conference game.

The Nighthawks had the ball with 8.6 seconds left and a chance to tie, but an off balance 3-point attempt by Jayden Bezzant fell short and the Wolves escaped with their 17th consecutive victory.

"We've shown multiple times this year that when we are at our best we can play with the best," NNU coach Paul Rush said. "Not only in the conference, but in the country. We just have to learn how to finish those games down the stretch and then bring that same focus, toughness and energy that we had tonight to Saturday."

The loss means the Nighthawks (11-12 overall, 7-10 GNAC) likely will need to win their final three games to advance to the GNAC conference tournament. NNU hosts Concordia at 7 p.m. Saturday.

"(The loss) gives us plenty of confidence actually," Maurice Jones said. "We know we can play really good defense. We wanted to bring a physical game to them. Last game, they brought the physical game to us and we weren't prepared.

"The game plan for tonight was to bring that edge. A chip on your shoulder that we have something to prove and that is what we did tonight."

NNU trailed 65-61 with 4:11 remaining and Western Oregon (24-1, 16-1) seemed primed to take control of the game, but the Nighthawks strung together two stops in a row and Jones hit a 3-pointer to tie the game at 65-65 with 1:57 left.

"You go down four with a couple of minutes left against the No. 4 team in the country," Rush said, "and it's easy to say, 'It was a good fight.' And hang it up, but the guys were tough and kept playing."

The Wolves then went up 67-65 on a pair of free throws and Jones then missed a pair of his own. Western Oregon then got a jumper at the other end for a four-point lead with less than a minute remaining.

Olamilekan Adetunji then stepped up and made a pair of free throws and Western Oregon split a pair at its end. Jones then missed a jumper, but an offensive rebound setup the final possession.

"We played better offensively than the recent Alaska trip," Bezzant said. "I think we are clicking better and that is a positive. Defensively, we are playing the best we have all season."

Now, the Nighthawks just need to convert that play into victories in the scorebook to keep their faint playoff hopes alive.

"We have to win from here on out," Bezzant said. "Get this senior night win for the seniors and then lock in for the road trip."

Obi Megwa scored a team high 16 points and grabbed six rebounds. Jones finished with 15 points, while Bezzant had 13. Sam Roth added eight points and five rebounds.