NAMPA, Idaho – The Northwest Nazarene men's basketball team has four days to get the bitter taste of back-to-back home losses out of their mouths and get ready for the conference tournament.

The Nighthawks lost 87-82 on Saturday to Seattle Pacific in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference regular-season finale for both teams.

With the win, the Falcons (19-6 overall, 16-4 GNAC) earn the No. 2 seed to the tourney and a coveted bye. NNU will be the No. 3 seed and face a team yet to be determined at a time to be determined on Thursday at Western Washington in Bellingham, Wash.

"We have to flush them and address what we need to work on," junior Jayden Bezzant said. "We're a bounce back team and come tournament time it's go now or never."

The Nighthawks (19-7, 14-6) had a chance to win the regular-season title with wins against Saint Martin's and Seattle Pacific, but struggled a bit in both games though they certainly showed that with a break here or there they could defeat both teams.

"Our focus is on the GNACs," NNU coach Paul Rush said. "The great part about losing is there is a lot to learn. We'll know our matchup later tonight and start preparing for that and get locked in and ready for the first round."

On Saturday, the Nighthawks last led at 8-6 with 16 minutes, 5 seconds left in the first half. From there, the Falcons maintained a steady five-to-eight point lead until the final 7 minutes of the game.

NNU pulled within one twice, but could never get over the hump.

Adonis Arms made a jumper in the paint to pull the Nighthawks within 69-68 with 6:10 left, but after Sam Simpson made a free throw and missed the second the Falcons grabbed two offensive rebounds and then drew the fourth foul on Arms. He went to the bench and the Falcons immediately went on a 9-2 run.

"Rebounding killed us tonight," Bezzant said. "We knew they were going to be aggressive and we still got killed on the glass. We've got to make adjustments and get ready for the weekend."

The Nighthawks did put together one final rally, pulling within 78-75 on a three-point play by Arms, 82-80 on a 3-pointer by Bezzant and 84-82 on a jumper by Arms with 18 seconds left. Seattle Pacific made enough free throws down the stretch, though, to hold on.

"The second half I thought we did a much better job rebounding," Rush said. "We spotted them five points in the first half and a lot of that was rebounds. That five-point lead, we couldn't get over that hump."

Arms finished with 30 points and five rebounds, while Obi Megwa had 22 points and Bezzant had 15.

It was the final home game for Megwa, Sam Franks and Nikola Prvulj.