MANHATTAN, Kansas. (Nov. 20, 2017) – Junior
Torry Johnson scored 20 points to lead the Northern Arizona men's basketball team in an 80-58 loss at Big XII-member Kansas State on Monday night at the Bramlage Coliseum in Manhattan, Kansas.
The loss drops the 'Jacks to 0-4 in their tough opening season non-conference schedule that previously included games at Arizona and Arizona State. Kansas State improves to 4-0 with the victory.
Johnson connected on 10-of-13 free throw attempts and made 5-of-7 shots from the field in becoming the first Lumberjack this season to put 20 points on the scoreboard. Sophomore
JoJo Anderson added 12 to round out NAU's double-figure scorers.
Kansas State was paced by Barry Brown who led a quartet of Wildcats who tallied double-digit points with 20 while shooting 9-of-13 from the field. Kamau Stokes recorded 16 points while Deam Wade added 15 and Xavier Sneed totaled 12 in the scoring column for Kansas State.
Turnovers were an issue for the Lumberjacks throughout the contest as they committed 31 overall, just three shy of the program's single-game record of 34 set in 1990-91 vs. Georgia State. NAU tallied 19 in the first half alone and overall the Wildcats scored 38 points off those miscues for the game.
The Wildcats also won the battle of the paint by a 40-20 margin as they shot a 50 percent clip (31-of-62) over 40 minutes while limiting the Lumberjacks to a 39 percent field goal percentage (16-of-41).
Kansas State also was a tough stop for the 'Jacks in transition as they outscored NAU 20-6 in fast break points, many of those opportunities sparked by Lumberjacks' turnovers.
The Wildcats never trailed in the contest and led by as many as 27 points as they opened an early 23-9 edge over the first 9:54 of action and held NAU without a point for a span of nearly six minutes during that stretch.
NAU battled back in the second half as it was only outscored 37-31 over the final 20 minutes and got to within 17 points of the Wildcats with 9:25 left in regulation, but Kansas State scored 16 of the game's final 29 points to seal the 22-point victory.
The Lumberjacks will look to get in the win column over the Thanksgiving holiday as they play at pair of games at the Las Vegas Invitational at the Orleans Arena beginning on Thanksgiving Day at 12 p.m. MST vs. Hampton.
With a victory on Thursday, the 'Jacks will move on to face Thursday's winner of the UC Irvine-Rider game on Friday at 8:30 p.m. MST. With a loss, NAU will take on the loser of that game beginning at 12 p.m. MST on Friday.
