LACEY, Wash. – The Northwest Nazarene men's basketball team nearly put together an epic rally in the final four minutes Saturday, but ultimately fell short in a 70-66 loss to Saint Martin's in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference regular-season finale for both teams.

NNU scored 11 consecutive points to pull within 68-66 with 27 seconds remaining and had the ball, but the Nighthawks couldn't get a shot off and turned it over with 14 seconds remaining. Saint Martin's then hit two free throws to ice the game.

"Those guys have done a great job both times we played them this year," NNU coach Paul Rush said of Saint Martin's, which swept the season series. "They shot the ball well tonight and played really well defensively and made things hard for us."

With a win, the Nighthawks (15-10 overall, 12-8 GNAC) would have been the No. 2 seed to the GNAC tournament next week at Seattle Pacific. Instead, NNU is the No. 4 seed and will play Thursday against No. 5 Alaska Anchorage at a time to be determined.

The Nighthawks will be making their second consecutive appearance in the conference tournament for the first time in program history. To reach their first NCAA national tournament, they will have to grab the conference's automatic bid by winning the title.

On Saturday, NNU trailed 63-45 with 8 minutes, 10 seconds remaining, but went on a 21-5 run to give themselves a shot at the win.

Adalberto Diaz started it with a jumper, Jaylen Fox hit a 3-pointer and George Reidy had a bucket to make it 66-52 with 5:32 left.

Reidy then hit a free throw, Jayden Bezzant had a steal and a layup, Ezekiel Alley hit a 3-pointer and Reidy had a layup to pull the Nighthawks within 68-60 with 2:36 to go.

Olamilekan Adetunji hit two free throws and Diaz splashed a 3-pointer to cut it to 68-65 with 1:35 on the clock. Adetunji then was fouled on an offensive rebound and made one of two to make it 68-66. After a turnover by the Saints gave the Nighthawks the ball back with 27 seconds to go, they couldn't get anything going on offense and gave it back to the Saints.

CJ Jennings then made two free throws to seal the victory for Saint Martin's (6-23, 4-16), which ended a seven-game losing streak with the win.

Alley finished with 15 points, while Adetunji had 11 points and 10 rebounds, Reidy had 11 points, Diaz had 10 points and Bezzant had seven points and six assists.

The Nighthawks now must focus on a tough conference tournament road that starts with the Seawolves on Thursday. If NNU wins that game, it will then play top-seed Seattle Pacific on Friday in the semifinals.

"We are excited about next week and looking forward to the conference tournament and focusing on that," Rush said.

Seattle Pacific is the No. 1 seed, Western Washington the 2, Western Oregon the 3, NNU the 4, Anchorage the 5 and Alaska the 6.