DAVIS, Calif. (Nov. 29, 2018) – The Northern Arizona men's basketball team committed a season-high 19 turnovers in a 73-57 road loss at UC Davis on Thursday night.
The loss marked the Lumberjacks' second straight setback as their record slips to 2-3 overall, while UC Davis improves to 2-6 on the season with the victory.
Despite the turnovers, the 'Jacks remained within striking distance of the Aggies for much of the contest, but UC Davis' 24-6 advantage in the points off turnovers category was too much to overcome for NAU which was playing its fourth straight road contest since opening the season with a victory at home over Jacksonville.
"I thought we had way too many turnovers," NAU head coach
Jack Murphy said. "In the second half the guys battled and made plays to get us back in the game when we cut it to eight points but we just didn't make enough plays. We have to give UC Davis credit, especially TJ Shorts II. He is fantastic player and showed why he was the Big West Player of the Year last season."
UC Davis built its lead to as many as 18 points with 5:52 left in regulation, but the Lumberjacks fought back with a 9-0 spurt to get within nine at 65-56 at the 3:36 mark of the second half before the Aggies put together a 8-1 run to close out the victory.
"They (UC Davis) did great job of getting your defense into a constant rotation and lane penetration," Murphy said. "We didn't do a good job guarding the basketball, but these are all fixable issues. We have to get better at those things. UC Davis did a better job of getting into the paint and kicking the ball out for open three-point shots when we collapsed inside."
Shorts paced the Aggies in the victory with a game-high 21 points on 8-of-13 shooting, including a 4-of-8 clip from beyond the arc. He was joined by Caleb Fuller (13) and Siler Schneider (12) who each also posted double-figure scoring efforts for UC Davis.
Redshirt freshman
Luke Avdalovic came off the bench to score a team-high 11 points for the Lumberjacks in the loss as he connected on 3-of-4 three-point attempts in finishing with a career-high scoring total.
Sophomore
Brooks DeBisschop led the way for NAU on the glass as he led all players with nine rebounds. Freshman guard
Cameron Shelton nabbed three steals to go along with seven points and four assists. Sophomore
Bernie Andre added nine points and seven rebounds.
For the game, the 'Jacks shot a .431 (22-of-51) from the field and outrebounded the Aggies 33-32.
UC Davis made 29-of-61 attempts from the field, including 10 three-pointers. The Aggies never trailed in the contest which saw the teams tied once at early on at 2-2.
NAU concludes its current five-game road swing on Saturday, Dec. 1 at Santa Clara in a 5 p.m. MST tip from the Leavey Center.
The 'Jacks-Broncos contest will be aired on the Lumberjack Radio Network beginning with the pregame show at 4:30 p.m. MST.
NAU's game at Santa Clara will also be streamed live at:
TheW.tv – Click Here
