'Jacks Sail Past Southern Utah for the Sweep
/ January 31, 2015
CEDAR CITY, Utah – Northern Arizona led from the first basket and never looked back as it completed the sweep over Southern Utah with a 81-60 win on the road. The victory gave NAU its second straight win to improve to 10-11 overall and 5-3 in the Big Sky.
"Give credit to Southern Utah. They've been undefeated at home in league play here, but I'm really proud of our play tonight," said head coach Jack Murphy. "We guarded from stop to finish and we didn't let up. It was nice to see us play together as a team. We passed the ball well and did what we needed to get the victory tonight."
The Lumberjacks hit eight three-pointers in the first half at Southern Utah leading to a halftime score of 47-20 in NAU's favor. Aaseem Dixon was the ringleader of the group as he went 4-for-4 from long range as NAU shot 66.7 percent from long range. Also helping the Lumberjacks was there 64.3 field goal percentage in the first half.
Southern Utah's woes were due to a 27.3 field goal percentage in the first half, including a 0-for-6 performance from three-point range. Despite Tyler Rawson's eight points, the Thunderbirds made just six field goals in the half.
Coming out of halftime, NAU got things started with a layup from Kris Yanku. The Thunderbirds went on a 6-0 run from there, but Quinton Upshur drilled a three-pointer and added a free throw to put NAU up by 27 points.
NAU's dominance of the game could be seen from all sections of the arena. The Lumberjacks led by 20 or more points the entire second half, as it remained ahead of the Thunderbirds and never looked back.
Dixon guided NAU on the scoreboard with 21 points. Upshur added 17 points and Yanku chipped in 10.
Southern Utah (5-14, 2-16 Big Sky) had two players finish with nine points, as it didn't have any players score in double digits.
Notes: Double figure scoring games: Quinton Upshur (17), Aaseem Dixon (14), Kris Yanku (14)… Both teams had just one turnover each in the first half…This is the second straight sweep for NAU over Southern Utah as the 'Jacks have won the last four meetings.
