POCATELLO, Idaho (Jan. 6, 2018) – Northern Arizona senior
Gino Littles scored a career-best 22 points, but it wasn't enough as the Lumberjacks came up on the short end of a 64-60 decision at Idaho State on Saturday night at Holt Arena in Pocatello.
NAU used a 6-0 run over a 35-second stretch late in the second half and connected on 9 of its final 11 field goals to give itself a chance at the comeback win, but junior
Torry Johnson was whistled for an offensive foul with 1.7 seconds left and NAU trailing 63-60, allowing Idaho State to escape with the victory.
NAU went a perfect 7-of-7 from the field for a span of nearly eight minutes in the second half to trim a 12-point Idaho State advantage to 54-50 with 4:31 left.
"The guys just played their tails off, even when we got down by 12 with nine minutes to go," NAU head coach
Jack Murphy said. "They battled back and it was our ball, down by three points on the road. These last two Saturdays have been heartbreaking."
Following the defeat, the Lumberjacks slip to 3-14 overall and open Big Sky Conference play 0-4 for the second consecutive season. The Bengals improve to 8-6 with the victory and a perfect 3-0 in league action.
Both teams struggled from the field in the first half as NAU posted a 25.0 (8-of-32) shooting clip and Idaho State managed a 31.0 (9-of-29) percentage.
The Bengals raced out to a 9-2 advantage in the early moments, but would lead by no more than seven in the first half as the 'Jacks kept it close with solid defense that forced Idaho State into eight turnovers in the initial 20 minutes.
NAU went into the break trailing the Bengals 26-20.
Both teams shot the ball much better in the final 20 minutes as NAU put together a 58.3 (14-of-24) percentage from the field and the Bengals shot 53.8 (14-of-26) in the second half of action.
The Lumberjacks never led in the loss.
Corey Brown added eight points and a game-high nine rebounds for Northern Arizona.
Idaho State was led by Jared Stutzman who finished with 18 points and was joined by Novak Topalovic and Balint Moscan, who recorded 11 and 10 respectively for the Bengals.
The Lumberjacks return to action next weekend when they travel to Cedar City, Utah for their third straight road game on Saturday, Jan. 13 at Southern Utah in a 2 p.m. MST tip from the America First Event Center.
The 'Jacks-Thunderbirds game will aired live on the Lumberjack Radio Network beginning with the pregame show at 1:30 p.m. and will also be streamed on Pluto.TV channel 236.
