NAU Men’s Basketball Handed 82-60 Loss by Northern Colorado

GREELEY, Colo. (February 7, 2022) – The Northern Arizona men's basketball team chopped a 19-point first half deficit down to two before Northern Colorado emerged with an 82-60 win in the Bank of Colorado Arena on Monday. Sophomore Jalen Cone scored a team-high 22 points – 18 coming in the first half – in the defeat.
 
"Northern Colorado got off to a great start," said head coach Shane Burcar. "They were making a lot of shots, and so were we, but they were making a lot of threes. We tried to take away their three-point shots. More than anything, you need players to make shots throughout the game."
 
The Bears, one of the nation's leading three-point shooting teams, made 14-of-28 from behind the arc. Overall, Northern Colorado shot 49.2 percent compared to just 33.3 percent by NAU.
 
Cone hit five threes as part of his 11th 20-point game of the season. He also added five rebounds and three assists to his line. Redshirt freshman Carson Towt scored 10 points in just 18 minutes on the court, while redshirt sophomore Ezekiel Richards had a strong effort off the bench with five points and a team-leading eight rebounds.
 
Northern Colorado (12-11, 7-4 Big Sky) connected on a three to open the night's scoring and redshirt sophomore Keith Haymon answered with a three on the very next possession to tie it at 3-3. The Bears followed with a bucket on their next possession and led for the remaining 38 minutes of the game.
 
The Bears knocked down 12 of their first 18 shots from the field, including 8-of-11 from deep, in building a 34-15 lead midway through the opening period. However, led by Cone, the Lumberjacks (8-15, 4-8 Big Sky) came roaring back.
 
A Cone and-1 ignited a 19-2 run that brought the Lumberjacks all the way back within 36-34 with just over four minutes remaining before halftime. Cone accounted for 12 of NAU's 19 points – nine coming on a set of triples – while sophomore Ajang Aguek chipped in five points off the bench.
 
After Cone's final three with 4:13 left in the first half, Northern Colorado ended the period on a 6-0 run to take a 42-34 halftime lead.
 
The Lumberjacks were unable to get any momentum going in the second half as the Bears' lead grew to 20, 64-44, with 10 minutes remaining and as much as 25 the rest of the way.
 
Despite the loss, NAU only turned the ball over six times, setting a new season-low. There were only 12 combined turnovers in the game.
 
Northern Colorado outrebounded NAU, 42-38, but the Lumberjacks managed to grab 14 offensive rebounds with Richards, redshirt junior Nik Mains and Aguek hauling in multiple boards on that end leading to 15 second chance points.
 
NAU will make the trek up to Missoula, Mont. on Thursday for a 7 p.m. showdown with Montana. The Lumberjacks' week concludes in Bozeman, Mont. on Saturday versus Montana State at 12 p.m.
 
To stay up to date with the NAU men's basketball team, follow the Lumberjacks on Twitter and Instagram.