SACRAMENTO, Calif. (January 14, 2023) – In another down-to-the wire contest, the Northern Arizona University men's basketball team fell to Sacramento State, 59-56, today at The Nest in Sacramento, Calif.
With the loss, Northern Arizona drops to 5-14 and 1-5 in Big Sky Conference play while the Hornets, who snapped a three-game losing streak to NAU, improves to 11-7 and 4-1. The short-handed Lumberjacks ended the road trip 0-2, losing games to Portland State and to the Hornets by a combined four points.
NAU trailed by as many as 15 points in the game including 12 at halftime. The Lumberjacks never led but outscored the Hornets 34-25 in the second half and had two chances to tie the contest with less than 10 seconds left to play, coming up short.
Xavier Fuller led the 'Jacks with 20 points, his second 20-plus performance in Big Sky play. He was a perfect 8-for-8 from the free throw line and added five rebounds.
Oakland Fort added nine points, Trenton McLaughlin led the team with four steals,
Liam Lloyd dished four assists, and
Nik Mains grabbed a team-high six rebounds.
The Lumberjacks were 19-for-55 from the field, shooting 34.5 percent while Sacramento State shot 44.9 percent (22-49). NAU kept itself in the game due to its performance at the free throw line, going 14-of-16 while the Hornets were 8-of-13.
"In the second half, we were getting the game closer and closer from the free throw line. We shot just 34 percent and our defense was better, but when you shoot like that it's going to be hard to win any game. We gave ourselves an opportunity, but I think our guys showed their true character at the end," said head coach
Shane Burcar.
The Lumberjacks got off to a slow start as Sacramento State built a 5-0 lead. Northern Arizona was held without a field goal until the 17:31 mark and committed three early turnovers. Once NAU settled in, it cut the lead in half 8-4, in the early goings.
Northern Arizona entered a scoreless spell that lasted just over three minutes as the Hornets used a 12-2, 6-0 overall, run to pull ahead 20-8. Consecutive buckets from
Liam Lloyd and
Xavier Fuller snapped the run, but with less than five minutes left in the half, Sacramento State had pulled away 33-18 for its largest lead of the day.
NAU held the Hornets without a field goal for the final 4:14 of the half, forcing three turnovers during that span. However, it was held without a field goal for five minutes as well and couldn't make any ground, trailing 34-22 at the half.
Fuller had eight first half points as the 'Jacks were just 9-of-25 (38%) from the field in the first 20 minutes compared to 48 percent (13-27) for Sacramento State. The Hornets also grabbed five offensive rebounds for 10 second chance points, out-rebounding NAU 19-to-12.
The second half started off slow as well, as the Lumberjacks didn't score until the 16:53 mark. Northern Arizona started to find its footing and went on an 11-2 run to trim the lead down to 39-35. After the Lumberjacks went cold again and the Hornets pulled away 43-35,
Diego Campisano checked in off the bench and immediately delivered a three-pointer to make it a five-point game once again.
The Hornets started to heat up, hitting four-straight field goal attempts to put some distance on NAU, 52-39. An 8-0 run by the Lumberjacks, that included six points from Fuller, put a stop to the surge as NAU trimmed the lead down to 52-47. Sacramento State pulled ahead once again before a Trenton McLaughlin three-pointer made it a 57-52 game with less than two minutes to play before an
Oakland Fort jumper from the elbow made it a three-point game with less than a minute to play.
Fort, a true freshman, stepped up under pressure and made two free throw attempts with seven seconds to go to move the score to 57-56 in SAC's favor. Sacramento State returned the favor with two free throws to pull ahead 59-56. Fort missed the game tying three-point attempt but Mains grabbed the offensive rebound, putting a great look back up but just missed, resulting in the 59-56 defeat.
Northern Arizona was just 10-of-30 in the second half but held the Hornets to 9-of-22 from the field. NAU was able to out-rebound Sacramento State 19-15 in the second half, being edged 34-to-31 for the game's entirety. The Lumberjacks took good care of the basketball, committing just eight turnovers while forcing 15 that they turned into 15 points. Sacramento State won the battle in the paint, 28-to-18.
The Lumberjacks return to Findlay Toyota Court at the Skydome in Flagstaff next week to host Idaho on Thursday, Jan. 19 at 6 p.m. Mountain Standard time and Eastern Washington on Saturday, Jan. 21 at 2 p.m. MST.
