MISSOULA, Mont. (February 10, 2022) – The Northern Arizona men's basketball team pushed aside their early offensive struggles and made shots when it mattered the most on Thursday. Behind clutch shooting and tough defensive stops, the Lumberjacks emphatically snapped Montana's 14-game home winning streak in Dahlberg Arena with a 72-67 overtime win in front a stunned crowd of 3,037.
The Lumberjacks (9-15, 5-8 Big Sky) handed the Grizzlies (16-9, 9-5 Big Sky) their first home loss in almost a year (Feb. 20, 2021) and effectively halted the eighth-longest home winning streak in the country.
"I told the guys, 'tonight we're going to be judged by our toughness,'" said head coach
Shane Burcar. "I thought we battled the entire night. There were a couple of times tonight when you thought it might not be our night, and then we had to get two stops at the end of the game just to get to overtime. I thought our toughness really came through tonight."
Along with last season's 62-58 victory in Missoula, the Lumberjacks have now won consecutive games on the Grizzlies' home court for the just the fourth time in program history and first since 2007 and 2008. After winning those back-to-back games 14 years ago, NAU had dropped 11 of the next 12 meetings in Missoula, but has now won two of the last three.
"As I tell anyone who will listen to me, we have a good team," Burcar said. "We're fighting every single day to get better and we have great young men in our program. If you can win in Missoula, you can win anywhere in the Big Sky. This is a great stepping stone for our team."
The Lumberjacks were led by a trio of double-digit scorers in redshirt junior
Nik Mains (21), redshirt freshman
Carson Towt (16) and sophomore
Jalen Cone (13). Mains, who was 5-of-9 from three-point range, scored 14 of his 21 points after halftime, while Towt outscored Montana by himself, 7-6, in the overtime period. Towt also dished out seven assists, just one shy of Montana's total team total.
But the trio was far from the only Lumberjacks who had productive evenings in the team win. Redshirt sophomore
Keith Haymon scored eight points, including seven during a crucial 10-3 run that helped NAU erase a seven-point Montana lead following a 15-2 Grizzly run. Redshirt sophomore
Ezekiel Richards chipped in six points and sophomore
Isaiah Lewis tallied four points and six rebounds in 23 minutes – his highest minute total in two months.
With four of Towt's six rebounds coming on the offensive glass, NAU grabbed 10 offensive boards in total, which led to a game-altering 12-0 advantage in second chance points. The Lumberjacks outrebounded the Grizzlies, 36-27, overall.
A two-point NAU halftime lead grew to six, 35-29, early in the second half following a triple by Mains with 16:59 to play. However, Montana appeared to seize the momentum with a 15-2 surge over the next five minutes to put NAU behind, 44-37.
NAU did not go away though with Haymon converting four free throws and hitting a three to spark the Lumberjacks' charge back. In all, NAU went on a 12-3 run and took a brief lead with 8:53 remaining on a jumper by Cone. From there, the game would be tied on three occasions over the next two minutes before Montana opened up a 61-56 lead with three minutes to play.
Once again, the Lumberjacks refused to go quietly as Mains connected on his third three of the half to put NAU within a possession with 2:37 on the clock. That set the stage for Cone, who knocked down a pair of free throws – following an NAU missed shot and offensive rebound – with 27 seconds left to tie the game at 61-61.
To get to overtime, NAU still had to withstand two Montana misses at the rim in the final seconds, and in the extra period, the Lumberjacks put the punctuation on the night. After Montana's Josh Bannan opened the scoring with a free throw, Towt converted his second and-1 of the night to put NAU in front, 64-62. The Grizzlies' Brandon Whitney, who led all players with 25 points, tied the game with two freebies before Towt scored at the rim again.
Towt's bucket gave the 'Jacks a 66-64 lead they would not relinquish and Mains followed with a dagger corner three with 1:41 left to provide the necessary separation on the scoreboard at 69-65. In overtime, NAU made all four of its attempts from the field, while Montana was 0-for-4 with all six of its points coming at the line.
NAU, who entered the night shooting just 66 percent at the line as a team this season, kept pace with the country's third-best free throw shooting team by percentage. The Lumberjacks made 21-of-28 (75 percent), including a crucial 12-of-16 in the first half, compared to the Grizzlies' 25-of-30 (83.3 percent) in a game featuring 42 combined fouls.
Free throw shooting kept both teams afloat in the first half when offense was few and far between with both teams navigating through extended scoring droughts on the way to NAU clinging to a 27-25 halftime edge. The teams combined to make just 13 shots from the field, including a combined 3-for-17 from behind the arc, in a half that featured nearly double the turnovers (21) and 10 more free throws (23) than field goals.
NAU held the early 6-2 advantage then went five minutes without a point before sophomore
Ajang Aguek put in two free throws at the 12:47 mark. A Mains jumper, that went off the window from the wing, snapped a 10-minute drought without a field goal and provided the 'Jacks with a 10-7 lead approaching the eight-minute mark.
As NAU attempted to find its rhythm on the offensive end, its defense kept the 'Jacks in the game as the Grizzlies' nine-minute stretch without a basket overlapped with the Lumberjacks' own drought. In the final four minutes of the first half, the teams combined for only four field goals, but 11 total free throws helped the teams reach the first half finish line with a two-point margin between them.
The Lumberjacks shot 43.1 percent for the game, while the Grizzlies shot 38 percent. After halftime, NAU shot 53.6 percent from the field and 42.9 percent from three. It was just the fifth time in 14 league games that Montana was outshot from the field.
NAU wraps up the week against Montana State in Bozeman, Mont. at 12 p.m. on Saturday. The Bobcats won their 10th straight game on Thursday, 77-74, at home versus Portland State and now sits atop the Big Sky standings.
To stay up to date with the NAU men's basketball team, follow the Lumberjacks on
Twitter and
Instagram.
