MISSOULA, Mont. – Northern Arizona (19-13) made sure not to repeat last year's Big Sky Championship quarterfinal performance as it defeated Northern Colorado 63-57 at Dahlberg Arena tonight. The Lumberjacks will play the winner of No. 1 Montana and No. 8 Weber State.

"I'm just proud of our guys for making big shots down the stretch," said head coach Jack Murphy. "I feel like our rebounding is one of our strengths and Northern Colorado is a good team. For our guys to step up and grab the boards the way we did was good. We have to keep up our hard-nosed play on defense." 

NAU dominated the paint in the first half scoring 14 points to Northern Colorado's four. The rest of the stat sheet was almost even. All eight players that got in the game for NAU in the first half scored, led by nine points, four assists and three rebounds from Kris Yanku entering halftime. Both teams shot 40 percent from the floor, but it was UNC's 6-0 run to end the half that made it a 34-30 halftime score in favor of the Lumberjacks.

Northern Colorado tied it at 39-All at the 13:51 mark after a free throw by UNC's Dominique Lee. The Bears used a mixture of jumpers and layups to make their way back into things getting the crowd on their feet.

Both teams traded baskets with neither team going ahead by more than five points. With five minutes left to go in the game NAU held a 52-51 edge.

Both teams knew that it was either win or go home, and when Quinton Upshur hit a much needed three-pointer with 4:36 to go to give NAU a 55-51 edge, he wasn't thinking of going home.

NAU knocked down free throws down the stretch, finishing 12 of 13 from the line for the game. NAU never trailed in the game as it was able to beat Northern Colorado for the second time this season and when it really counted.

Aaseem Dixon led all scorers with 16 points, including four three-pointers. Len Springs had a near double-double of eight points and 10 rebounds, in addition to four blocked shots. Yanku added 15 points, six rebounds and five assists. NAU shot 37.9 percent from the floor and 92.3 percent from the free throw line.

Tim Huskisson led Northern Colorado (15-15) with 15 points and 10 rebounds. Both Tevin Svihovec and Cameron Michael recorded 13 points apiece. The Bears shot 32.8 percent from the floor and 66.7 percent from the free throw line.

"We really stepped up and made plays tonight," said Dixon. "It's important for us to play as a team and that's just what we did today. We just wanted to come back and play even harder. Our main focus was to have confidence in the ball when we had it.

Notes: Double figure scoring games: Kris Yanku (25), Aaseem Dixon (22), Ako Kaluna (16)…NAU made its 23^rd appearance in the Big Sky Tournament today…For the second straight season NAU played Northern Colorado in the first round…NAU's win versus UNC is the first quarterfinal win for NAU since the 2011 season…Gaellan Bewernick continues to improve his career all-time played games record to 123…Kris Yanku, NAU's all-time season free throws made record holder, increased his total to 188…Quinton Upshur, Len Springs and Ako Kaluna tied the all-time season games played record at 32…