NAMPA, Idaho – The Northwest Nazarene men's basketball team got back to their brand of ball and it resulted in a signature victory Saturday night.

Attacking the basket with abandon and playing tight defense helped the Nighthawks earn a 78-70 victory against Western Oregon, the defending Great Northwest Athletic Conference champions.

The win is the second in a row for NNU, the sixth in its last seven games and sends the Nighthawks into second place alone after the first half of conference play.

"It says we are resilient," NNU senior Obi Megwa said. "It's a testament to how hard we work every single day. This is a big time win for sure."

The victory was the first against Western Oregon since Dec. 31, 2016, and the first in Nampa since Jan. 9, 2014.

The Nighthawks (13-3 overall, 8-2 GNAC) struggled out of the gates offensively, trailing 8-4 with 15:36 left in the first half. NNU then went on a 19-4 run to give itself some breathing room.

During the run, Jayden Bezzant had eight points, Arms had six and Adalberto Diaz and Sam Roth each had layups.

Arms, Megwa and Bezzant put on a show all night on how to finish at the basket – dunking, reversing and twirling their bodies for baskets in the paint.

"Coach always raves on about getting to the rim and putting pressure on the defense," Bezzant said. "When I come in I try to create. I think we were just locked in offensively and defensively. Offensively it comes easy to us as long as we share and move the ball."

That had been a problem the last three games for NNU, which split a pair of games in Alaska and then struggled in a win Thursday against last-place Concordia.

"We were big on ball movement and attacking the basket," NNU coach Paul Rush said. "We got easy shots early, which built our confidence."

The Nighthawks led by as many as 19 in the second half and still led by 15 with 5:01 to go, but let the Wolves back in it down the stretch.

Trailing 76-70 with just over a minute left, Western Oregon's Jaylyn Richardson had a 3-pointer go nearly all the way in before rimming out. NNU held on from there to get the much-needed victory.

"We are good, but we are not comfortable," Bezzant said. "There is always room for improvement. There is still a team above us (Saint Martin's). We should've held that lead, but we've just got to keep trusting in the process and improving every day."

Megwa finished with 17 points and four rebounds, while Arms had 16 points, eight rebounds and eight assists. Bezzant added 16 points, Diaz had nine points and four rebounds, James Nelson had seven points and Sam Roth six.

Kaleb Warner's 21 points and seven rebounds led Western Oregon (14-5, 7-3), which made just 8-of-33 3-pointers. The Wolves were 14-of-28 in a 32-point win at Central Washington on Thursday.

NNU plays at Central Washington at 8 p.m. MST on Tuesday and then at Montana State Billings at 7 p.m. MST on Saturday.