Flagstaff, Ariz. (November 13, 2017) – The Northern Arizona men's basketball team fell in its home opener by an 82-70 margin against Embry-Riddle on Monday night at the Rolle Activity Center in Flagstaff.
The Eagles outscored the Lumberjacks 29-17 over the final 11:22 seconds to seal the victory and improve to 4-1 overall. NAU slips to 0-2 with the loss.
"I give all the credit to Embry-Riddle, they played a terrific game tonight," NAU head coach
Jack Murphy said. "This will be a learning and growing experience moving forward and we need to learn from it as we have a lot of games to play left on the schedule."
NAU opened up an early 25-9 lead with 8:34 left in the first half on the strength of an 8-0 spurt and then a 9-0 run, both of which were sparked by active play by the 'Jacks on the offensive boards as they pulled down four offensive rebounds and connected on four shots from three-point range.
Embry-Riddle crept back in with three shots from beyond the arc and by going a perfect 6-for 6 from the free throw line over the next seven minutes to trim the NAU lead to 35-34 with 1:07 before intermission.
Junior
Torry Johnson answered for the Lumberjacks with a 3-pointer and a pair of free throws by sophomore Brooks Debisschop increased the NAU advantage back to 40-34 before Kaden Herbert hit a fade-away jumper as the half expired to send the teams into the locker rooms with the 'Jacks holding a 40-36 advantage.
The Eagles took their first lead of the game 1:13 into the second half at 41-40 on a three-pointer by Ryan Skurdal as it opened the final 20 minutes with a 7-0 run and outscored the 'Jacks 12-5 over the first 5:21 of the second half to lead by a 48-45 margin.
NAU battled back to tie the game at 53-53 with 11:22 left in regulation but would never reclaim the lead as the Eagles shot a .577 clip over the final 20 minutes to put the game out of reach. The 'Jacks failed to connect on a field goal over the 3:12.
Northern Arizona lost the rebounding battle 41-36 and failed to connect on 11 attempts from the free throw line as it finished 23-of-34 from the charity stripe. The Eagles connected on 19-of-20 of its free attempts to help push it to the win.
Sophomore
Chris Bowling paced the Lumberjacks in the loss with a team-high 16 points and added five rebounds. Gilbert Ibarra led a total of four Eagles that tallied double-figure points with 20. Emory-Riddle's Nick Johnson led all players with 14 rebounds.
The Lumberjacks will return to action on Friday, Nov. 17 when they travel to battle Arizona State in a 6 p.m. MST tipoff that will be televised live on Pac-12 Networks.
Postgame Notes – vs. Embry-Riddle
- Sophomore Chris Bowling scored 11 of his 16 points in the first half and shot 5-of-8 (3-of-5 three-pointers).
- Embry-Riddle out-rebounded NAU 22-18 in the opening 20 minutes, including seven offensive rebounds.
- NAU forced Embry-Riddle into 10 turnovers in the first half.
- The Lumberjacks largest lead of the game was 25-9 with 8:34 remaining in the first half.
