FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. (Feb. 1, 2018) – Northern Arizona sophomore
Chris Bowling missed a three-pointer at the buzzer allowing Idaho State to steal a 63-61 victory over the NAU men's basketball team on Thursday night at the J. Lawrence Walkup Skydome in Flagstaff.
The Lumberjacks rallied from 16 points down to get within two points after Idaho State's Balint Moscan missed a pair of critical free throws with six seconds left in the contest to give NAU the final shot attempt with a chance to pull out the come-from-behind win.
With the Bengals leading 61-54 with less than a minute remaining in regulation, the 'Jacks got a three-pointer from
Gino Littles, two free throws by
Torry Johnson and a clutch steal and layup by
Brooks DeBisschop to cut the deficit to 63-61 just prior to the misses from the charity stripe by Moscan.
"It is tough to be the home team and see a visiting team walk out of your building happy" NAU head coach
Jack Murphy said. "Once again we shot ourselves in the foot. In the first half our defense was pathetic, it was non-existent and we have to come out and compete from the opening jump."
The game began as a tightly contested affair as it featured five ties and five lead changes over the initial 15 minutes of action.
"I am very proud of our guys for competing and having the ball with a chance to win, but I was so disappointed with our first-half performance on the defensive end of the floor," Murphy said.
Idaho State pulled away at the midpoint of the contest as it put together a 20-4 run with the score deadlocked at 28-28 that spanned the final 4:50 of the first half and opening 2:46 of the second and upped the Bengals' advantage to 48-32.
DeBisschop was one of the biggest highlights of the night for the Lumberjacks as he pulled down a career-best 18 rebounds in the loss which represented the highest single-game total to date by any Big Sky Conference player this season. The sophomore also tallied 10 points for his team-leading fourth double-double this season and his third over the last four games overall.
Freshman
Karl Harris was aggressive on the offensive end all evening as he drove and sliced his way to a career-high 22 points as four Lumberjacks finished the night with double-digit scoring totals. Johnson added 15 for his fourth consecutive double-figure scoring effort and
Gino Littles tabbed 10.
NAU struggled from the field in the loss as it posted a 35.4 percentage, shooting 23-of-65 overall (4-of-21 from three-point range). The 'Jacks also left eight points on the free throw line as they finished 11-of-19 from the charity stripe. Northern Arizona finished the game with 19 offensive rebounds and won the battle on the glass 45-33.
Idaho State connected on nine treys in the win and were led in the scoring column by Gary Chivichyan who totaled 18. Brandon Boyd notched 13 and Jared Stutzman added 12 to lead the Bengals' offense.
The loss drops the Lumberjacks overall record to 4-19 and 1-9 in Big Sky action. Six of nine losses for NAU in conference play have been decided by six points or less. The Bengals evened their season record at 10-10 and moved to 5-4 in league games.
The Lumberjacks continue their current three-game homestand vs. Weber State on Saturday, Feb. 3 in a 7 p.m. MST tip at the J. Lawrence Walkup Skydome.
Saturday's 'Jacks-Wildcats contest will be televised live on Phoenix's CW6 (Suddenlink Channel 6 in Flagstaff) and NAU TV (Suddenlink Channel 3) and streamed live on Pluto.TV (channel 239). The game will also be aired on the Lumberjack Radio Network beginning with the pregame show at 6:30 p.m. MST.
