FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. (Dec. 30, 2017) – Junior
Torry Johnson earned a pair of free throws with 0.5 seconds left in regulation and the Northern Arizona men's basketball team trailing 64-63 to Montana State, Johnson hit the first but missed the second with an opportunity to seal the win and Bobcats followed by outscoring the Lumberjacks 12-9 in the overtime period to escape with a 76-73 victory on Saturday night at the J. Lawrence Walkup Skydome in Flagstaff.
NAU led 63-61 with 29 ticks left in the second half following a clutch three-pointer by Johnson, but sophomore
Chris Bowling was called for a foul on Montana State's Tyler Hall on the next possession as Hall attempted a trey of his own. Hall then connected on all three of his attempts from the line to give Montana State a 63-62 advantage with five seconds left.
The Lumberjacks came up short in the five-minute overtime period as the Bobcats took the lead at 67-64 on a three-pointer by Keljin Blevins, who finished with a game-high 26 points, and never trailed again. NAU got to within one point at 69-68 with 3:04 left in the extra period but were outscored 7-5 the rest of the way.
"When we were able to play big, we played well and dominated. When we had to play small we didn't," NAU head coach
Jack Murphy said. "It was pretty straight to the point. When we were able to play our big guys we were pretty good and when our big guys got in foul trouble, we weren't as good."
The setback drops the 'Jacks overall record on the season to 3-12, including a 0-2 mark in Big Sky action. The Bobcats improve to 9-6 and 2-0 in conference play with the victory.
NAU led by as many as 15 points in the loss as it opened a 32-17 edge with 5:36 left in the first half behind solid shooting from beyond the arc by Bowling, who posted 11 of his team-high 16 points in the opening frame. The 'Jacks held the Bobcats without a field goal for a span of 6:03 to help widen the margin.
Montana State rallied with a 13-2 run over the final 3:29 of the half and held the 'Jacks without a field goal for a 4:53 stretch to trim the NAU advantage to 38-34 heading into halftime.
The Bobcats came out of the break hot as they opened the second half of action with an 8-0 run to take a 49-43 lead before NAU answered with an 11-2 spurt to reclaim the lead at 54-51 with 10:59 left.
Overall, the back-and-forth affair featured 10 ties and 10 lead changes. NAU came up short due to it committing a total of 18 turnovers, while Montana State totaled just six and won the points off turnovers battle 17-5.
"We just have to continue to do a better job getting the ball down low and finishing when we have the baskets. I thought it was a really outstanding job defensively by our group to hold a really high-scoring team to 30-percent shooting," Murphy added.
The overtime contest marked the first this season for the Lumberjacks and their most recent since Feb. 2, 2017 when they lost by a 91-90 margin at Idaho State.
NAU saw four players finish the game with double-digit scoring totals as Bowling's 16 was joined by Johnson's 13. Junior
Corey Brown tallied 11 points and nine rebounds and senior
Gino Littles chipped in 10.
Junior
Brooks DeBisschop led the 'Jacks on the glass with a game-high 12 rebounds and added a pair of steals.
Hall rounded out Montana State's scoring leaders with 16, but managed to shoot just 4-of-18 from the field.
NAU's reserves played a key role in the contest as they outscored the Bobcats' bench 33-9.
The Lumberjacks will return to action on Thursday, Jan. 4 when they travel to Weber State for a 7 p.m. MST tip in their first Big Sky Conference road game of the season.
The 'Jacks-Wildcats game will aired live on the Lumberjack Radio Network beginning with the pregame show at 6:30 p.m. and will also be streamed live on PlutoTV channel 235.
