OGDEN, Utah (December 2, 2021) – The Northern Arizona men's basketball team's strong defensive effort was overshadowed by a struggling offense in a 67-44 loss to Weber State on Thursday in the Big Sky opener for both teams. NAU (3-5, 0-1 Big Sky) shot just 33.3 percent from the floor and turned the ball over 28 times in its lowest scoring game of the young season.
While the 'Jacks could not find an offensive rhythm, they slowed down the high-powered Wildcats on the other end of the floor. Weber State, one of 14 remaining undefeated Division I teams at 7-0 following the win, came into Thursday night's contest averaging 81.8 points per game and shooting 53.9 percent overall ranking 41st and third in the country respectively.
"For them to shoot 34 percent, we obviously did a good job (defensively)," said head coach
Shane Burcar. "But we had 28 turnovers, which means that we had 28 possessions that we didn't get a shot up. At the end of the day it's still one loss, and I liked our battle on defense, but you can't turn the ball over 28 times."
Although Weber State shot just 34.5 percent from the field, including 4-of-26 (15.4 percent) behind the arc, it was slightly better than NAU. After halftime, NAU did shoot 40.7 percent compared to Weber State's 33.3 percent, but the Wildcats converted at the free throw line at a 15-for-18 clip.
For the game, Weber State made 23-of-29 at the charity stripe compared to just 8-for-15 by NAU. The Lumberjacks did outrebound the Wildcats by a 43-31 margin with sophomore
Jalen Cone pulling down a career-high 10, followed by eight from redshirt junior
Nik Mains and seven each from redshirt freshman
Carson Towt and redshirt sophomore
Ezekiel Richards.
The Lumberjacks fell behind 11-3 to start the night before a 7-1 run capped by a flush from Towt off a feed by Richards pulled them within 12-10 with nine minutes left in the first half. Richards connected on a hook shot the next trip down the floor to keep it a two-point game, but it would be the last field goal before a four-minute scoring drought in which Weber State took a double-digit lead courtesy of a 9-0 run.
Despite 17 first half turnovers and only hitting five shots from the field, NAU still went into halftime trailing just 28-18 and within striking range of handing Weber State its first loss of the season.
The Wildcats' advantage ballooned up to 41-25 five minutes into the second half before the Lumberjacks struck quick to cut the deficit to single digits. Junior
Mason Stark sparked the 9-2 run scoring five points during the spurt, the last two coming on a transition layup that forced a Weber State timeout with 12:09 to play and the Wildcat lead trimmed to 43-34.
However, Weber State scored the next seven points and NAU would trail by double-figures the rest of the way.
All 12 Lumberjacks to see action scored, led by Mains' seven points, in addition to grabbing at least one rebound.
NAU will have an opportunity to bounce back, and split its conference-opening road trip, on Saturday at Idaho State at 6 p.m.
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