BOISE, Idaho (March 13, 2019) – The No. 8 seed Northern Arizona University men's basketball team came up on the short end in its opening round game at the 2019 Big Sky Conference Championship by a 72-60 margin vs. No. 9 seed Sacramento State on Wednesday morning at CenturyLink Arena.
The Lumberjacks committed 18 turnovers in the loss, which Sacramento State turned into a 28-13 advantage in points off turnovers to help push it to the victory.
"I am not sure the program has been in a better place since I have been here for the future," NAU head coach
Jack Murphy said. "In 2015 we won a lot of games, but we had five or six seniors heading out the door. Now these guys we have are here to stay and build a great foundation for the seasons to come."
NAU held the lead for just over two minutes in the early portion of the contest before Sacramento State started to take control with some tremendous shooting from long range as the Hornets connected on 8-of-9 three pointers in the first half and finished 12-for-20 overall. The sharp shooting from distance allowed the Hornets to open up a 15-point advantage at the break and was led by a 4-of-4 shooting effort from beyond the arc by Izayah Mauriohooho-Le'afa.
The second half saw the Sacramento State lead grow to as many as 18 points as the Lumberjacks shooting touch continued to falter – making 11-of-29 attempts from the field in the second half and finishing the contest 21-of-53 overall (39.6 percent).
Sophomore
Bernie Andre, who was honored as the 2019 Big Sky Co-Newcomer of the Year, posted his eighth double-double of the season with 19 points and 12 rebounds to lead the 'Jacks in the loss. Andre also was perfect from the charity stripe, making all seven of his free throw attempts. Joining Andre in double-digit points was
Carlos Hines (13) and
Cameron Shelton (11).
Marcus Graves registered a game-high 27 points on 10-of-18 shooting, including 6-of-8 from three-point range to pace the Hornets. Mauriohooho-Le'afa finished with 17 points and Joshua Patton netted 12.
With the loss, NAU finishes the 2018-19 campaign 10-21 overall. Sacramento State improves to 15-15 on the season and advances to face No. 1 seed Montana in the Big Sky quarterfinals on Thursday in Boise.
Postgame Notes
- NAU slips to 15-25 all time in Big Sky Championship games in program history.
- The Lumberjacks have lost in the opening round during each of their last four appearances at the Big Sky Championship, with their last victory coming in 2015.
- Wednesday's game marked the first time that NAU has faced Sacramento State in the Big Sky Championship.
- Cameron Shelton finished his initial college season with 240 points – which ranks as the eighth-highest scoring total by a freshman in NAU history.
- Bernie Andre pulled down a total of 263 rebounds during his sophomore campaign – which ranks as the 10th best single-season total in NAU annals.
- NAU doubled its win total from the 2017-18 campaign.
