TOURNAMENT CENTRAL
FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. (March 7, 2022) – Four wins. That is what is needed to capture the Big Sky Championship and the league's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. For the Northern Arizona men's basketball team, the 2022 conference tournament begins on Wednesday in the first round versus the No. 6 seed Eastern Washington at 2:30 p.m. at Idaho Central Arena in Boise, Idaho.
With a win, the Lumberjacks will advance to the quarterfinals where they will meet the No. 3 seed Northern Colorado on Thursday at 8 p.m. A potential NAU appearance in the semifinal would be 8 p.m. on Friday with the championship game at 6 p.m. on Saturday.
All of this week's tournament games, with the exception of Saturday's tile game, will be streamed on ESPN+ with the radio broadcast on the Northern Arizona Healthcare NAU Lumberjack Radio Network. The championship game will air live on ESPNU.
NAU will be the No. 11 seed in the tournament following a regular season that finished at 9-22 overall and 5-15 in conference play.
"Regardless of our record, it's a new season," said head coach
Shane Burcar. "The scoreboard hasn't gone our way obviously, but now that we're in the tournament, we're focused on getting to the next round. We're capable of winning any game in the Big Sky and this week will be no different. Plus we'll be on a neutral court, compared to last Thursday when we were at Eastern."
The Lumberjacks' first opponent will be the Eagles, a team they just faced last Thursday in Cheney, Wash. Eastern Washington (17-14, 11-9 Big Sky) defeated the Lumberjacks, 69-62, although NAU held a seven-point lead prior to halftime. A 12-0 first half closing run by Eastern Washington was pivotal though as NAU could not overcome the 38-33 halftime deficit.
Still, NAU's defense kept the Lumberjacks in the game as they battled back. The 'Jacks held the Eagles to eight points fewer than their season average of 77.4 in conference play.
"We played pretty good defense, but we're challenged to score the ball right now for whatever reason," Burcar said. "We have good shots. We'll make a couple more adjustments to try to change that. With no disrespect to Eastern, we're hoping the third time is a charm."
A win would not only advance NAU in the conference tournament, but it would end the Lumberjacks' longest active losing streak to a league opponent. With a pair of Eastern Washington wins this season, the Eagles have won 10 straight over the 'Jacks over the last five seasons. The average margin of victory for Eastern Washington during this stretch is 11.6.
It will also be the second time in as many years that the two teams will meet in the conference tournament. Last season, Eastern Washington eliminated NAU in the quarterfinal, 66-60, but the six-point game was the closest margin during the Eagles' run to the tournament championship and the subsequent NCAA Tournament berth.
Eastern Washington is 4-1 all-time versus NAU in the conference tournament having won the last four meetings since an 82-65 victory by the Lumberjacks in 2000 in the Big Sky semifinal. One day later, NAU won the championship – the program's last tournament title and NCAA Tournament appearance.
Sophomore
Jalen Cone will lead the Lumberjacks into the tournament on the heels of a 35-point, nine-rebound performance last Saturday at Idaho in the regular season finale. Cone came up one point shy of his career-high 36-point effort versus Sacramento State on Jan. 24 and also was one rebound short of his second double-double of the season.
Cone scored 23 of his 35 points in the second half to notch his third 30-point game of the season. Cone is the first Lumberjack since Ryan McDade in 2002-03 to register three 30-point games in a season and is one of four players in the Big Sky, along with Northern Colorado's Daylen Kountz, Sacramento State's Bryce Fowler and Weber State's Koby McEwen with three such games.
Cone, who now resides alone in second on NAU's single-season scoring chart, ranks second in the Big Sky in overall scoring average (18.8) and was fourth in conference play (18.9). His 583 points scored ranks 27th in the country among a host of other categories in which he is in the top 100 nationally including three-pointers made (91; 24th) and three-pointers per game (2.94; 32nd).
Although Cone averaged 19.0 points per game in two games versus Eastern Washington this season, it was redshirt sophomore
Keith Haymon who led the Lumberjacks against the defending conference tournament champion. Haymon averaged 21.5 points per game in the two games, including a career-high 24 points in last Thursday's matchup.
In his last 12 games, Haymon is averaging 11.4 points per game with seven double-digit scoring games. For the season, Haymon averaged 9.9 points per game behind Cone and redshirt junior
Nik Mains (11.6). The three players have combined to make 228 of NAU's 269 three-pointers, which is a new single-season program record.
Two of the Big Sky's top rebounding teams will be on the floor on Wednesday, including the Big Sky's best offensive rebounding team in NAU and the best defensive rebounding team in Eastern Washington. The Lumberjacks averaged 10.1 offensive rebounds per game, which led the conference in Big Sky games, while the Eagles averaged a league-leading 27.4 defensive rebounds per game in conference action.
The Lumberjacks have outscored their opponents by an average margin of 1.6 points per game in second chance points over the last 10 games due to their offensive rebounding prowess. Redshirt freshman
Carson Towt, who is one rebound away from moving into NAU's top 10 single-season list, led the Big Sky with 2.7 offensive rebounds per game. Averaging 2.8 offensive rebounds per game overall, Towt is 67th in the country in the category.
Eastern Washington completed a perfect final week of the regular season to clinch the No. 6 seed. After defeating NAU last Thursday, the Eagles bested Portland State, 83-75, on Saturday. While Eastern Washington averaged the fourth-most points per game in the Big Sky during conference play, the Eagles also allowed the third-most points at 75.7 points per game.
In two games versus NAU this season, Linton Acliese III was one of four Eagles to average double-figures with 20.0 points per game on 60.7 percent shooting from the field. He also averaged 8.0 rebounds per game. Acliese III led Eastern Washington in both scoring (17.1) and rebounding (7.5) in conference play. Steele Venters averaged 16.0 points and 7.0 rebounds per game versus the Lumberjacks this season. Venters, the eighth-best three-point shooter in the country in terms of percentage at 43.5 percent for the season, shot 38.5 percent from deep in two games versus NAU.
"In our starting lineup, we have one freshman, three sophomores and a junior and it would be nice to make some noise in the Big Sky Tournament," Burcar said. "We're a one-bid league and that's the goal coming into the season whether you're 18-2 in the league or you have our record. We have the same goal and that's to go win the tournament."
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