FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. (Feb. 3, 2018) – Northern Arizona ran into a hot shooting Weber State squad as the Wildcats connected on 13 three-pointers and shot 60 percent from the field in sending the Lumberjacks to their 10
th loss in 11 Big Sky contests by an 87-55 margin on Saturday night at the J. Lawrence Walkup Skydome in Flagstaff.
The Lumberjacks never held a lead in the defeat as Weber State led by as many as 41 points and was paced by a solid offensive effort by Big Sky scoring leader Jerrick Harding, who posted 29 points on 11-of-14 shooting from the field, which included a 5-of-7 clip from beyond the three-point line.
"Weber State is a very good basketball team," NAU head coach
Jack Murphy said. "They came in and took it to us right from the start in terms of transition offense and got some points early on the break. When you get outscored by 36 points from the three-point you aren't going to have a great chance to win. I thought our guys at times showed some good effort and tenacity on the defensive end, but against a ball club like that you have to be a stellar defensive team."
A total of four Wildcats finished the game with double-figure points as Dusty Baker (17), Ryan Richardson (16) and Zach Braxton (10) joined Harding in leading the Weber State offensive attack. The Wildcats were also very opportunistic as they capitalized with 24 points off a total of 12 NAU turnovers.
Junior
Torry Johnson continued his consistent point production for the Lumberjacks as he posted his fifth consecutive game with double-digits in the scoring column at 17 while shooting 6-of-9 from the field and 5-of-7 from the charity stripe.
NAU's
Karl Harris added 11 points and
Corey Brown tabbed 10, but the 'Jacks struggled with their shooting touch for much of the evening before finishing with a 36.5 (19-of-52) performance from the field. The Lumberjacks also missed 10 free throws in the loss as they finished 16-of-26 from the free throw line. NAU also hit on just 1-of-13 attempts from beyond the three-point arc.
Weber State took control from the outset as it opened up a 20-point advantage in the first half at 34-14 with 4:38 left before intermission.
The Wildcats opened up their largest lead of the game at 41 points (82-41) with 4:08 remaining in regulation.
The loss drops the Lumberjacks to 4-20 on the season and 1-10 in Big Sky contests. Weber State moves to 15-7 overall and 8-2 in league action.
The Lumberjacks will conclude their current three-game homestand vs. Southern Utah on Saturday, Feb. 10 in a 2 p.m. MST tip at the J. Lawrence Walkup Skydome.
The 'Jacks-Thunderbirds 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 1:30 p.m. MST.
