FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. – The Northern Arizona men's basketball team played in the Walkup Skydome for the first time since their stellar basketball run in the CIT last year. The Lumberjacks (2-4) managed to work themselves out of a shooting slump and give the Spartans a nudge, but it wasn't enough as NAU fell to Norfolk State, 70-66, snapping a 10-game win streak at home for NAU.

"It doesn't come down to the last play; it's all the plays in between," said head coach Jack Murphy. "We have a young team and we have to understand how to play for 40 minutes and finish. I'm glad we battled back. Both Jaleni and Torry stepped to the line and made free throws, including some nice shots by Marcus towards the end."

The play of D'Shon Taylor carried the Spartans to victory as the guard scored a game-high 31 points on 9-for-14 shooting, plus 8 of 10 from the free throw line. When you add Taylor's numbers with that of Jeff Short – 19 points (4 of 5 FT) – the pair managed to help the Spartans shoot 40 percent from the floor and 82.4 percent from the charity stripe.

The Lumberjacks had a trio of double digit scorers – Jaleni Neely (14), Torry Johnson (13), and Kris Yanku (10). Defensively, Ako Kaluna pulled down 11 rebounds, in addition to his seven points scored.

NAU led by one point at halftime, but struggled midway through the second half, resulting in a 14-point lead by NSU with 7:29 remaining in the game. The Lumberjacks did not give up, and with some made free throw shots and bench production from freshman Marcus DeBerry, NAU turned on the ignition.

The Lumberjacks came to within two points with 37 seconds left in the game after a made trey by DeBerry, and another two points down after DeBerry made a jumper with 12 seconds remaining.

NSU's Short hit a pair of free throws with three seconds on the clock to seal the road victory for the Spartans.

"Marcus made some big plays at the end to bring us back," said Yanku. "We're a very young team, but we have to figure it out by Big Sky play."

The Lumberjacks host Hampton University on Wednesday. Tip-off versus the Pirates is scheduled for 7 p.m. at the Walkup Skydome. 

Notes: Tonight was the first time NAU played in the Walkup Skydome since defeating NJIT in the CIT semifinals last season…The Lumberjacks entered the game on a 10-game home win streak…Kaluna has now grabbed double-digit rebounds in two games this season…NSU improves its all-time series record over NAU to 2-0.