GRAND FORKS, N.D. (Feb. 17, 2018) – Sophomore
Chris Bowling's steal and dunk with 25 seconds left in regulation sent a furious back-and-forth affair between Northern Arizona and North Dakota into overtime deadlocked at 69-69 before the Fighting Hawks escaped with an 86-81 victory at the Sioux Center on Saturday afternoon.
Junior
Torry Johnson erupted for a career-high 33 points on 10-of-14 shooting, which included a 5-of-7 clip from beyond the arc to lead the Lumberjacks' sharp-shooting second-half comeback as they fought back after trailing by as many as nine points to force the game into extra time.
"Our guys battled all game, we answered every punch until the very end of regulation," NAU head coach
Jack Murphy said. "I am just so proud of how we fought as a team all game long and now we need to go home and get some wins for our home fans."
NAU made 10 of its first 11 shots to open the final period of action and shot an eye-popping 80.0 percent (16-of-20) over the final 20 minutes of action to keep North Dakota from pulling away despite the Fighting Eagles connecting on 15 three-pointers for the game.
The 'Jacks showed their prowess from beyond the arc as well as Johnson (5-of-7) and Bowling (5-of-8) combined to shoot 10-of-15 from deep to keep the pressure on North Dakota in a contest that featured six ties and five lead changes.
Joining Johnson among the Lumberjacks' scoring leaders was Bowling (17 points),
Karl Harris (13) and
Isaiah Thomas (12). Senior
Gino Littles directed the traffic for NAU throughout and finished with a career-best nine assists.
Northern Arizona held its last lead at 39-38 with 15:27 left in regulation but North Dakota answered with a 13-5 spurt to stay in control and fought off the 'Jacks as they tied the game five times over the final 1:50 of the second half and overtime.
North Dakota seemed to have an answer every time the 'Jacks looked on the verge of claiming the momentum as it utilized solid ball movement to consistently find open teammates for shots from long distance and connected on 15-of-32 three-point attempts.
The Lumberjacks shot 52.8 percent (28-of-53) from the field, which represented its second-best shooting effort this season. North Dakota finished at 50.9 percent (29-of-57), including a perfect 4-for-4 in the overtime period which saw them outscore NAU 17-12 to seal the victory.
The hard-luck loss represented the 'Jacks sixth straight and dropped their overall record to 4-23 and 1-13 in Big Sky action. North Dakota moves to 10-17 on the season and 5-10 in league games following the victory.
The Lumberjacks return to action next week for their final two regular-season home games beginning with a clash with Sacramento State on Thursday, Feb. 22 in a contest that will tip off at 6:30 p.m. MST from the Rolle Activity Center.
The Northern Arizona-Sacramento State contest will be aired on the Lumberjack Radio Network beginning with the pregame show at 6 p.m. MST and streamed on PlutoTV (channel 239).
