MOSCOW, Idaho – Northern Arizona made a late surge on the road at Idaho led by 19 points from junior forward Ako Kaluna, but it wasn't enough as the Lumberjacks fell to the Vandals, 83-76 at Cowan Spectrum.

"I felt like at the start of the second half we came out more aggressive but couldn't get any stops," said head coach Jack Murphy. "Our problem tonight was that we let up on the defense at times and that won't help us win ball games down the stretch. We have to take care of the basketball a little better and that's something we need to get back to."

NAU (3-12, 1-3 BSC) trailed by as many as 16 points in the first half with six minutes to go, and although it did cut the Vandals lead down to 10 points, Idaho still managed to take a 45-30 lead into halftime.

Victor Sanders was solid for the Vandals (11-6, 3-1 BSC) from the floor leading the home team with a career-high 33 points on 9-for-13 shooting. As a team, Idaho dominated the paint, scoring 43 points down low.

It was a mixture of Idaho's presence in the paint and NAU's lack of ball control that made the score stretch at times.

NAU's freshmen stepped up in the second half assisting Kaluna in the scoring. Mike Green had spectacular back-to-back steals midway through the second half resulting in four fast break points for the point guard.

NAU netted six free throws in a 60 second stretch that saw the Lumberjacks trim Idaho's lead to six points with 23 seconds to go. Kris Yanku hit a three-pointer with 13 seconds to go and 81-76 on the clock in favor of the Vandals. NAU had a chance to come to within three points, but a block by Sanders gave the Vandals the ball back taking away NAU's hopes of a comeback victory.

Felix Rivera-Vega finished with 17 points and seven rebounds, while Yanku scored all 13 of his points in the second half.

Chad Sherwood finished with 14 points and six rebounds for the Vandals, while Nate Sherwood added 12 points and seven boards.

Next up for NAU is a game at Eastern Washington for a Saturday tip-off at Reese Court scheduled for 1 p.m. MST. The Lumberjacks won the lone meeting between the two teams last season.

Notes: NAU played in Moscow, Idaho for the first time since the 1995-96 season…Kaluna registered his 10^th double figure scoring game of the season…Yanku started off sluggish but finished double digits for his 10^th consecutive game…Fourth straight double digit scoring game for Rivera-Vega…Idaho shot 52.7 percent from the field, 47.1 percent from the three-point line and 77.3 from the charity stripe…NAU shot 45.3 percent from the floor, 36.8 from long range and 70 percent from the free throw line.