HONOLULU, Hawai'i (Nov. 18, 2018) – Cold shooting in the first half hampered the Northern Arizona men's basketball team in an 85-68 road loss at Hawai'i on Sunday night in Honolulu.
The Lumberjacks traded barbs with the Warriors for the opening 12 minutes of the first half as they trailed by just one at 23-22 with 7:39 left, but were then outscored by Hawai'i 18-3 over the remainder of the first half as it opened up a double-digit margin at 41-25.
NAU connected on just 1-of-8 field goals to close out the half and committed eight turnovers in the opening 20 minutes that led to 10 points for Hawai'i. The Lumberjacks also suffered through a 5:54 stretch in the later moments of the first half when they failed to connect on a field goal.
Hawai'i meanwhile had no trouble finding the bottom of the net as it made 17-of-31 attempts from the field for a 54.8 clip en route to its 16-point lead at the break. The Warriors also established their presence in the paint by outrebounding the 'Jacks 21-9 in the first half before finishing the game with a 35-22 edge on the glass.
"Hawaii played really well, they got some guys back they were missing and they provided a spark," NAU head coach
Jack Murphy said. "I thought the guys battled back in the second half and had some good stretches, but Hawai'i made big shots when it counted."
The loss dropped the Lumberjacks' overall record to 2-2 in what was the fourth game in nine days for NAU and its third of a stretch of five straight on the road. Hawai'i improves to 3-1 with the victory.
"We have to have near flawless execution both offensively and defensively to win a game like this and we didn't make that happen tonight," Murphy said. "Hawaii has great size, but I liked that we got to the foul line 32 times and showed we were able to take it in the lane regardless of that."
The second half saw the Lumberjacks battle back to get within nine points of the lead four times, with the latest coming at 59-50, but NAU would get no closer as Hawai'i would outscore the 'Jacks 26-18 over the final 7:50 to close out the win.
Sophomore
Carlos Hines led the way for the 'Jacks offensively with a team-best 18 points on 7-of-13 shooting from the field. Joining Hines in double-figure points was
Bernie Andre (14),
Cameron Shelton (12) and
Davon Bolton (10).
Eddie Stansberry paced the Warriors in the win with a game-high 19 points while connecting on 7-of-16 shots overall and 5-of-12 from beyond the arc. Zigmars Raimo made 8-of-10 shots while scoring 17.
For the game, the Lumberjacks shot .417 (20-of-48) from the field including just .150 (3-of-20) from three-point range. Hawai'i connected on 33-of-59 shots overall for a .559 clip and made 10 three-pointers, including six in the second half.
The Lumberjacks will enjoy 10 days off before continuing their current road trip with a contest at UC Davis on Thursday, Nov. 29. Tip time is scheduled for 8 p.m. MST.
The 'Jacks-Aggies contest will be aired on the Lumberjack Radio Network beginning with the pregame show at 7:30 p.m. MST.
NAU's game at UC Davis will also be streamed live at:
BigWest.TV – Click Here
