RENO, Nev. (March 6, 2018) – The Northern Arizona men's basketball was eliminated in the opening round of the 2018 Big Sky Conference Championship as it was on the short end of a 82-59 margin against Northern Colorado on Tuesday afternoon at the Reno Events Center.
The Bears secured the postseason victory largely by capitalizing with 27 points off 18 Lumberjack turnovers.
NAU closes out its season with a 5-27 overall record. The 27 losses are the most in the history of the Norther Arizona program for a single season and tie for the most by a Big Sky Conference member.
Northern Colorado improves to 22-11 on the season and advances to face Weber State in the quarterfinals of the Big Sky Conference Championship on Thursday.
Jordan Davis led the Bears offense with 21 points on 8-of-13 shooting and was a menace to the Lumberjacks throughout the contest, making up for an off day by Northern Colorado's leading scorer Andre Spight, who was limited to just 12 points largely due to aggressive defense provided by the 'Jacks
Chris Bowling, who shadowed Spight for the majority of the contest.
Anthony Johnson came off the bench to pitch in 17 points in the victory for the Bears and Jonah Radebaugh joined Spight with 12 points.
The Lumberjacks were paced in the loss by junior
Corey Brown, who posted a team-high 13 points while shooting a perfect 5-of-5 from the floor. Freshman
Karl Harris tabbed 11 and junior
Torry Johnson netted 10 to round out NAU's double-figure scorers.
Northern Colorado also had its way on the glass as it outrebounded the 'Jacks 41-30, which included 14 offensive boards. The Bears claimed the advantage in second-chance points due to that effort by a 15-8 margin.
