LAS VEGAS, Nev. (Nov. 23, 2017) – The Northern Arizona men's basketball team cut a 19-point deficit to five with 4:52 remaining in regulation, but came up on the short end of a 76-66 result vs. Hampton in its opening game at the Continental Tire Las Vegas Invitational on Thursday afternoon at the Orleans Arena in Las Vegas.
The Lumberjacks outscored the Pirates 13-3 over a 4:32 stretch late in the second half to pull within five at 62-57 before coming away with the loss after Hampton scored 14 of the final 23 points to secure the victory.
The setback drops the 'Jacks to 0-5 on the season, while Hampton improves to 2-4 following the win.
"I thought that we came out tentative, but once that melted away, specifically in the second half, you saw us attack the paint, you saw us get open looks from the perimeter, you saw us win the second-chance point battle and cut down on the points from turnovers," NAU head coach
Jack Murphy said.
"There were definitely some positives," Murphy added. "We had seven steals and six blocks. I think a lot of that comes from energy and playing loose and free. I felt like we were a little tight in practice yesterday. We have to look at pressing the whole game because we seem to play so much better when we do that."
Junior guard
Torry Johnson led the Lumberjacks with a career-best 24 points, his second consecutive game with at least 20 in the scoring column. Sophomore
JoJo Anderson added 15, including three shots from beyond the arc, while Brooks Debisschop paced NAU on the boards with a team-best nine rebounds.
Charles Fisher-Wilson posted a double-double for the Pirates with 13 points and 13 rebounds, while shooting 5-of-7 from the field. Jermaine Marrow notched a team-high 19 points, while connecting on 10-of-12 free throw opportunities to lead Hampton in scoring.
Struggles from the free throw line and points in the paint plagued Northern Arizona in Thursday's loss as the Lumberjacks missed 12 attempts from the charity stripe in finishing 16-of-28 overall and were outscored in the lane by the Pirates 42-22.
Hampton opened an early 29-10 lead and held NAU to just four field goals over the first 13:03 of the contest to take control early. The Lumberjacks struggled from the field in the first half as they were successful on just 9-of-26 of their attempts over the first 20 minutes for a 34.6 first half shooting clip. Meanwhile, the Pirates made 55.6 percent of their field goals (15-of-27) in the first half.
The Lumberjacks hit on eight three-point field goal attempts in the loss and added seven steals and blocked six shots.
Northern Arizona will try to break into the win column on Friday, Nov. 24 in its final game of the Continental Tire Las Vegas Invitational when it takes on the loser of Thursday's night's game between UC Irvine and Rider in a 12 p.m. MST tip.
