NAU Hampered by First Half Run, Falls 81-52 to Arizona in Season Opener

TUCSON, Ariz. (November 9, 2021) – A big 13-0 Arizona first half run put the Northern Arizona men's basketball team in a hole they could not climb out of, ultimately resulting in an 81-52 season-opening loss Tuesday night in the McKale Center.
 
"Arizona tries to come out and beat you by the first media (timeout) and we didn't want that to happen," said head coach Shane Burcar. "About the seven-minute mark (of the first half), it was still a game and then they took off. We were tough, but we need to execute. We need guys to make shots and get stops."
 
Prior to the Wildcats' game-altering run, the Lumberjacks trailed just 18-15 at the 9:18 mark of the first half. Redshirt sophomore Keith Haymon buried a corner tree to bring the score to that margin before Arizona countered with a three of its own on the ensuing possession.
 
The Wildcat three started a 13-0 run over a near five-minute stretch that broke the game open. During that stretch, the 'Jacks committed five turnovers and missed five consecutive attempts from the field before a putback by redshirt freshman Carson Towt halted the scoring drought.
 
The run put a damper on a strong NAU start on both ends of the court, including forcing 11 misses on Arizona's first 19 shots.
 
Despite the final score, the Lumberjacks battled hard, particularly on the glass against a Wildcat team that ranked 18th in the country last year in rebound margin. NAU held the rebounding edge for a good portion of Tuesday night's season opener, and only trailed Arizona, 44-42, in the column at the final whistle.
 
However, NAU was hampered by turnovers, committing 21 in total compared to just six by Arizona. That proved to be critical as the Wildcats outscored the Lumberjacks, 24-4, on points off turnovers.
 
Towt led the Lumberjacks with 11 points and a career-high nine rebounds, coming up one board shy of his first career double-double. Although Towt was the only Lumberjack in double-figure scoring, junior Mason Stark narrowly missed joining him, scoring nine points off the bench in his first career game at NAU.
 
NAU hung with Arizona through the first 10 minutes of the game with sophomore Jalen Cone, also making his Lumberjack debut, scoring five of NAU's first 15 points. The game turned though on Arizona's run as the Wildcats took a 42-22 lead into halftime.
 
While 10 first half turnovers hurt NAU, the 'Jacks also shot just 29.6 percent from the field in the opening 20 minutes while the Wildcats shot 51.5 percent. The Lumberjacks' field goal percentage shot up to 42.3 percent in the second half while also seeing the Wildcats' clip drop to 30.6 percent.
 
Trailing 46-25 early in the second half, NAU forced an Arizona timeout with back-to-back treys by freshman Wynton Brown and Stark that trimmed the deficit to 46-31 four minutes into the period. Coming out of the stoppage, Arizona hit a three to halt any momentum NAU had and the Lumberjack would not get any closer the rest of the way.
 
Arizona shot 40.6 percent to NAU's 35.8 percent for the game, and also made 17 free throws as opposed to NAU attempting 17 freebies. Although the Wildcats' field goal percentage was the lowest against the Lumberjacks in their last 10 meetings dating back to 2007, Arizona did assist on 25 of its 28 made field goals.
 
The 'Jacks will continue their season-opening road trip Thursday night in Seattle against Washington at 8:30 p.m. MST in Alaska Airlines Arena.
 
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