SOUTH PADRE ISLAND, Texas (November 20, 2021) – In a game where neither team led by more than six and there were 14 ties and 12 lead changes, Saturday's South Padre Island Battle on the Beach came down to the team that had the ball last, barely. The Northern Arizona men's basketball team survived a wild final sequence to secure an 89-87 victory over UTRGV, notching their third straight win to improve to 3-2.
"It was a great environment here and University of Texas Rio Grande Valley was first-class," said head coach
Shane Burcar. "As far as the game is concerned, it was a great college basketball game, back and forth and basically whoever had the ball last was going to win it. We had a couple of chances to put the dagger in and we missed some open shots. Defensively, we played hard and you have to give UTRGV credit."
Sophomore
Jalen Cone may have shot just 8-for-21 from the field, but the Virginia Tech transfer came up clutch in the final moments. With the game tied at 87-87, Cone drove to his left and was fouled on the floor, giving him a one-and-one opportunity with 5.8 seconds remaining.
Cone calmly knocked down both free throws, finishing the game 7-of-9 at the line, prior to the last sequence. UTRGV's Ricky Nelson took the inbound and drove the length of the floor, but missed the potential game-tying layup as time expired to put a cap on an exciting first of two meetings between the Lumberjacks and Vaqueros (2-2).
The two teams will turn around and meet once more Monday night in the Rolle Activity Center at 6 p.m.
Cone led the Lumberjacks with a collegiate career-high 25 points and dished out a team-high seven assists while committing just one turnover. Redshirt junior
Nik Mains matched his career-high of 20 points, set earlier this week versus Benedictine Mesa, while also hauling in a team-high eight rebounds.
Also finishing Saturday afternoon's contest in double-figures was redshirt freshman
Carson Towt, who totaled his own career-high of 15 points to go with seven rebounds and three assists, and junior
Mason Stark, who had his best scoring output as a Lumberjack with 13 points off the bench.
Both teams shot over 50 percent from the floor in the first 20 minutes with UTRGV ultimately claiming a 48-45 halftime lead. NAU snagged the early advantage, holding a 16-10 lead six minutes into the game after a five-point spurt capped by a Mains three. That was followed immediately by the largest run of the game by either team, an 11-0 Vaquero surge that put them in front, 21-18.
NAU played from behind from there until a three-point play by Mains gave the Lumberjacks a brief 43-42 edge with 1:23 left before the intermission. UTRGV would snag the lead back though, closing the half on consecutive layups by Justin Johnson, who led all players with 35 points – the most by an opposing player since UC Davis' Joe Mooney also scored 35 against NAU on Dec. 4, 2019.
Although UTRGV did not cool off immensely between the first half (55.9 percent) and second half (53.3 percent) from the deck, UTRGV did not hit a trey after halftime following a 5-for-12 showing prior.
Meanwhile, NAU hit five of its eight threes in the final 20 minutes helping to negate a 54.7 percent overall shooting performance by UTRGV, which included a 52-36 scoring advantage in the paint.
A jumper by Cone a minute into the second half brought the score even for the first of 11 occasions in the period alone at 50-50. The second half ping-ponged back and forth with neither team able to lead by more than one possession until what appeared to be a momentum-changing four-point play by Stark, who scored 11 of his 13 points after halftime, with seven minutes left.
One possession after drilling a corner three, Stark was fouled on a three-point make from the wing and hit the ensuing free throw to put NAU up 76-72. The lead was short-lived as UTRGV tied it at 76-76 at the 5:31 mark and later clung to its final lead, 79-78, with 3:58 to play.
Cone drilled a three a minute later to put the Lumberjacks back in front 83-80, and Mains followed with a jumper to give NAU a five-point advantage with two minutes left. Yet again though, the Vaqueros refused to go away and eventually tied it at 87-87 on a Johnson jumper with 26 seconds left, which set the stage for Cone's game-winning free throws.
"I'm really happy with our guys and their determination to figure out a way to get it done," Burcar said. "When you play 30+ games at this level, there are going to be games like this. I'm thankful we can learn from it on a win. We're going to get better from it."
The Lumberjacks, who shot 49.2 percent from the field, received major contributions from their reserves to back the efforts of Cone, Mains and Towt. In addition to Stark's 13 points, redshirt sophomore
Ezekiel Richards scored eight points, all in the first half, and recorded his third straight multi-block game. Freshman
Wynton Brown scored five points and added three boards and a career-high three assists.
Together, the trio outscored UTRGV's bench, 26-12.
NAU and UTRGV will tip-off in the rematch on Monday at 6 p.m. to begin a two-game Lumberjack homestand in the Rolle Activity Center before the Thanksgiving weekend. The 'Jacks will also host Cal State Fullerton at 6 p.m. next Wednesday.
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