SANTA CLARA, Calif. (Dec. 1, 2018) – The Northern Arizona men's basketball team saw a 10-point lead slip away in an 81-74 loss to Santa Clara on Saturday afternoon at the Leavey Center.
The Lumberjacks led by nine at halftime and were ahead for a total of 26:15 of the contest, but were outscored by 16 in the second half as Santa Clara sent them to their third straight loss.
The loss, which marked NAU's third straight, dropped the Lumberjacks' record to 2-4 overall, while Santa Clara moved to 3-5.
"We were no doubt the tougher team in the first 20 minutes, we took it to them and punched them in the mouth but in the second half Santa Clara was the tougher team," NAU head coach
Jack Murphy said. "We were beating them on the glass at half and in the second half they took it to us. They obviously had a size advantage, but we have to be tougher. When our guards rebound we are a good team. We have to be able to neutralize the size. I am proud of the team for battling to the end, but we have to close out games."
The game was really a tale of two halves as the Lumberjacks took control in the first half after the teams battled back-and-forth for the initial eight-plus minutes, with neither leading by more than four points. NAU then started to control the action as it outscored the Broncos 25-16 over the final 11:51 to head into the locker room holding a nine-point edge at 41-32.
Sophomore
Carlos Hines led the opening half charge for NAU with 16 points on 6-of-9 shooting, including four three-pointers in the opening 20 minutes, which saw the Lumberjacks shoot .515 (17-of-33) from the field and limit the Broncos to just a .355 clip (11-of-31).
Santa Clara came out with more intensity after the break as it rallied to get within one point of the lead at 50-49 at the 13:06 mark before the Lumberjacks answered with an 8-2 spurt that increased their cushion to 58-51 with 10:57 remaining. The Broncos had the momentum from that point forward as they deadlocked the contest at 62-62 with just over seven minutes left in regulation before eventually taking the lead at 65-62 on a three-pointer by Josh Martin with 6:29 left.
Northern Arizona was unable to reclaim the advantage despite keeping the game within one possession up until the 3:02 mark before the Broncos closed out the game by outscoring the 'Jacks 10-6 to close out the victory.
Santa Clara overcame its shooting struggles in the first half by hitting 53.6 percent of their shots in the final 20 minutes and outrebounding the Lumberjacks 22-11.
Hines led NAU in the scoring column with 19 points and was joined in double-figures by junior
Ted McCree who tabbed 15 and sophomore
Bernie Andre who netted 11.
Tahj Eaddy paced the Broncos to the victory with a game-high 22 points. Trey Wertz added 17, while Josip Vrankic (17 points/14 rebounds) and Martin (12 points/13 rebounds) each finished with double-double efforts.
Santa Clara connected on 11-of-20 attempts from beyond the arc and limited the 'Jacks to just six treys on 22 attempts.
The Lumberjacks will return home for the first time in 28 days when they host WAC member Utah Valley in a 6 p.m. MST tip on Saturday, December 8 at the J. Lawrence Walkup Skydome.
The 'Jacks-Wolverines contest will be televised live on Your Phoenix CW and Pluto TV (Channel 239). It can also be heard on the Lumberjacks Radio Network beginning with the pregame show at 5:30 p.m. MST.
