CHENEY, Wash. (Feb. 4, 2019) – Eastern Washington University sophomore Jacob Davison dropped in 41 points to lead the Eagles to an 82-64 win over the Northern Arizona men's basketball team on Monday night and snap the Lumberjacks' two-game winning streak.
NAU never led and trailed by as many as 19 in seeing its record drop to 7-14 overall and 5-6 in Big Sky contests. Eastern Washington improves to 8-13 and 6-4 in conference action.
Davison's 41-point effort marked the most points by a player in the Big Sky Conference this season.
"I am disappointed how we finished the game," NAU head coach
Jack Murphy said. "We had a stretch there from about the 10-minute mark until about the two-minute mark where we were playing our tails off. We should have been playing with that pace the whole game. You play with that pace and it is a totally different outcome."
NAU had some shooting struggles that contributed to the loss as the 'Jacks hit on just 33.9 percent (20-of-59) of their attempts from the floor. The Lumberjacks' first eight made field goals were three pointers and they did not make a two-point shot until there was 2:37 left in the opening half.
Meanwhile, Davison established his presence from the outset as he scored Eastern Washington's first 11 points of the game and 14 of the first 16 overall.
The Lumberjacks tried to keep pace early, solely with the three-ball, as NAU connected on eight of its 12 treys for the game in the initial 12:33 of action. The Eagles were leading just 22-18 with 7:56 left before halftime, but went on to outscore the 'Jacks 21-13 and take a 12-point lead into the locker room at 43-31.
NAU never got closer than 10 points in the second half as Davison continued to light it up by scoring 22 of his game-high 41 points in the final 20 minutes.
Sophomore
Bernie Andre and freshman
Luke Avdalovic led the 'Jacks in the loss with 13 points each. Andre added nine rebounds and Avdalovic connected on 4-of-6 attempts from long distance. Junior
Ted McCree tabbed 11 and sophomore
Brooks DeBisschop chipped in 10.
Eastern Washington had a pair of players finish with double-double efforts in Jesse Hunt (15 pts/11 rebs) and Tanner Groves (13 pts/11 rebs).
The Lumberjacks return home on Thursday, Feb. 7 in a 6:30 p.m. MST tip against Idaho State at the J. Lawrence Walkup Skydome.
The 'Jacks-Bengals contest will be streamed on Pluto TV (Channel 239). It can also be heard on the Lumberjacks Radio Network beginning with the pregame show at 6 p.m. MST.
