GREELEY, Colo. (January 18, 2020) – Down 10 with 5:50 to play, the Northern Arizona men's basketball team went to work to complete their first conference road trip sweep in nearly six years. The Lumberjacks held Northern Colorado to just four points in the final six minutes of the game to rally for a 64-58 victory in the Bank of Colorado Arena on Saturday.
"We were down 10 with five minutes left and we weren't worried at all," said senior
Brooks DeBisschop. "We knew we had to chip away at it one possession at a time, get stops and hit shots and it worked out for us today."
After the Bears' Jonah Radebaugh drilled a jumper to make it a 54-44 game – capping a 15-4 Northern Colorado run – the Lumberjacks forced the Bears to miss two of their final 11 shots of the game. During this span, NAU went 7-for-8 and made all four attempts at the charity stripe to erase a double-digit deficit for the second consecutive game.
With the win, the Lumberjacks posted a perfect week on the road for the first time in conference play since they defeated Idaho State and Weber State on Feb. 27 and March 1, 2014. NAU improved to 9-7 overall and 3-4 in conference heading into a home stretch of four consecutive games in Flagstaff.
Junior
Cameron Satterwhite led the Lumberjacks with 16 points, eight of which came during NAU's 20-4 closing run. Satterwhite completed two three-point plays and hit a jumper and finished the game 6-for-11 shooting from the field.
DeBisschop, who recorded his third double-double of the season with 13 points and 11 rebounds, started the NAU's run with a basket before Satterwhite's first and-1 cut the lead in half in a minute of game play. DeBisschop tied the game at 58-58 with 1:33 left and after another stop on the defensive end, sophomore
Cameron Shelton drove the paint and finished at the rim to put NAU ahead, 60-58, with 49.3 seconds remaining.
Junior
Bernie Andre and Shelton each converted a pair of free throws following Shelton's go-ahead basket to provide the final margin on the scoreboard. In all, Northern Colorado came up empty on five consecutive possessions to end the game.
"The thing we did at the end of the game was we got stops," said interim head coach
Shane Burcar. "
Bernie Andre got a rebound and knocked down free throws and then
Cameron Shelton gets a rebound and knocks down his free throws. We're up two and I told our guys we were one stop away from shooting two free throws to ice it and that's exactly what happened. This is a great group of guys to be around right now."
Shelton recorded 10 points and eight rebounds, while sophomore
Luke Avdalovic scored eight points. Senior
Chris Bowling and Andre combined for all 13 of NAU's bench points in a 13-5 bench advantage for the 'Jacks with Andre also totaling nine rebounds.
NAU shot 42.1 percent and limited Northern Colorado to just 33.8 percent shooting. The Lumberjacks also won the rebounding battle, 44-35, and held significant advantages in the paint (36-22) and off turnovers (12-5) in handing the Bears their first home loss in eight games this season.
The first half was a close one with neither team gaining a significant advantage. NAU led for the final 10 and a half minutes going into the locker room and led by as much seven at 30-23 with 2:40 left in the half following consecutive threes by Bowling and DeBisschop.
NAU wound up taking a 32-28 lead into halftime and continued to lead until the 12 minute mark of the second half when Northern Colorado moved in front, 41-40. Northern Colorado used an 8-0 run in 90 seconds to take a seven-point lead before DeBisschop and Avdalovic answered with buckets to trim the deficit to 47-44. The Bears scored the next seven points before the 'Jacks started their final rally.
The Lumberjacks will enjoy the comforts of home, where they have played only two of their first seven Big Sky games, over the next two weeks.
NAU will host Portland State next Saturday, Jan. 25 in the Walkup Skydome at 4 p.m. to open its four-game homestand.
