SEATTLE, Wash. (November 15, 2023) – The Lumberjacks (1-2) picked up their first victory of the season with a 62-60 win at Climate Pledge Arena against Seattle, marking the Redhawks first loss of the season. The loss is just the third time in program history that the Redhawks have dropped a game in Climate Pledge while the Jacks take the 1-0 series lead against Seattle after the team's first-ever meeting tonight.
"I'm so happy for the guys, you go to UConn and you go and play GCU so those environments prepare you for games like this," head coach
Shane Burcar said. "I thought we had poise down the stretch and that locker room is ecstatic right now."
Trent McLaughlin gave the Jacks a quick start against the Redhawks, who notoriously have found themselves in foul trouble early this season, as McLaughlin drew the and-one for the 3-0 start. Seattle's Brandton Chatfield was charged with two fouls within the first minute of the game, benching the Redhawks third-best scorer.
McLaughlin grabbed two steals on Seattle's four turnovers in the first four minutes of play, giving the Jacks half their points off of Redhawk turnovers with the lead out to a ten-point margin of 16-6. Northern Arizona forced a Seattle timeout just a minute ahead of the under-twelve mark as the Jacks out-rebounded the Redhawks 8-5 while converting on multiple second-chance opportunities.
As the Jacks looked to hit a point of emphasis of spreading the offense, NAU's leading scorer
Liam Lloyd posted six assists in the first ten minutes on the court, while McLaughlin locked in seven points, and true freshman
Rockwell Reynolds tabbed six.
Nine of the Redhawks 22 points came at the free throw line ahead of the under-four media timeout, while Seattle inched back into the game coming within seven before the Lumberjacks quickly jumped back out to a 13-point lead as
Oakland Fort,
Diego Campisano, and McLaughlin sunk three consecutive jumpers.
Into the break, the Jacks led by 12 while capitalizing on 3 of 4 final field goals of the half, while Seattle finished the half 1-7 from the field. The Lumberjacks shot 50.0 percent from the field while 30.0 percent from beyond the arc. McLaughlin hit his season high of 13 points while leading the Jacks in scoring through 18 minutes on the floor. Lloyd led NAU with 8 assists and five rebounds.
NAU didn't let up the momentum, starting the second half off with a quick
Carson Basham driving layup inside the paint to give Basham his first double digit game as the layup tabbed ten points for the forward.
The Redhawks hit their hot streak of the night with just under 13 minutes remaining, going on a 6-0 run led by Cameron Tyson's 50.0 percent shooting from the field, forcing the Jacks to take their first timeout of the game. As Seattle missed back-to-back dunk attempts, McLaughlin ended the Jacks scoring drought with a quick jumper followed by a layup from Reynolds to put the Jacks back up by 10 at the under-ten media timeout.
Lloyd knocked down his first points of the night on a Reynolds assist while the Redhawks defense left the Jacks leading scored wide open on the top left of the arc. Seattle worked its way back to a six-point deficit, as the Redhawks capitalized on 19 of 21 points at the line with just over six minutes to go. McLaughlin answered for 19 points on the night, matching his career high.
Tyson sunk his second three-pointer of the night off a NAU turnover to bring the Redhawks within one possession with four minutes on the clock. The Redhawks tied things up coming out of the final media timeout as Viktor Rajkovic knocked down both free throws. Reynolds put the Jacks back on top down the stretch with a dunk off the feed in the paint from Fort.
Alex Schumacher answered quickly to cause some commotion as the clock winded down, bringing the game back to a tie at 60-60 with a second-chance layup. Fort, not a stranger to big time plays, dribbled down the stretch and capitalized on some room inside the key with a step-back jumper to secure the Jacks their first victory of the season.
The Jacks held Seattle's leading scorer Cameron to 14 points, three under his season average of 17. The Redhawks were led by Schumacher who posted 24 points, while 14 of those came at the line.
After opening the season with just one double-digit scorer through the first two games, the Jacks win was backed by three double-digit scorers in McLaughlin's 19, Reynolds 13, and Basham's 10. Lloyd finished the game with seven rebounds and 12 assists. NAU cleaned up its shooting tonight, going 42.4 percent from the field.
The Lumberjacks will now head back to Phoenix for the inaugural Arizona Tip-Off at Desert Diamond Arena where NAU will take on Purdue Fort Wayne on Friday at 2:30 p.m. MST. To stay up to date with NAU Basketball, follow the team on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook.
