BOISE, Idaho (March 4, 2023) – The Northern Arizona University men's basketball team's season will continue following an 87-76 victory over No. 10 Idaho tonight in the first round of the Big Sky Basketball Championships in Boise, Idaho, at Idaho Central Arena. The No.9 seeded Lumberjacks will move on to the quarterfinals for the first time since 2021, facing No. 1 Eastern Washington tomorrow at 5:30 p.m. Mountain Standard time.
NAU improves to 10-22 overall (5-13 Big Sky) while the Vandals' season comes to a close at 10-22 and 4-14.
Five Lumberjacks scored in double figures, led by junior
Jalen Cone with 25 points. It was the third-straight 25-plus performance for Cone who was 5-for-9 from three-point range and a perfect 8-for-8 from the free throw line.
Carson Towt earned a double-double with 13 points and 11 rebounds on 6-of-10 from the field. Freshman
Oakland Fort drained three three-pointers for 13 points, a new career-high against a Division I opponent after making 5-of-6 from the field.
Nik Mains made four three-pointers and finished with 18 points and six rebounds, and
Xavier Fuller rounded things out with a 14-point performance, adding five rebounds and three assists.
The contest was closely contested with seven ties and 10 lead changes with NAU leading for 33:43 of the contest. Both teams were solid offensively, with the Vandals shooting 51 percent from the field and the Lumberjacks shooting 50.9 percent. Northern Arizona was 13-for-29 from three-point range and 18-for-22 from the free throw line.
"I give great credit to Idaho. They fought the whole game. It's a scary game. Any tournament game in the Big Sky is not like the ACC or the Big Ten where there's a big difference, and I give credit to Idaho," said head coach
Shane Burcar. "Talking about our great team, our players have had high characters all season long. I just love their poise and how we finished the game down the stretch. We had a few big blocks by
Carson Towt and
Xavier Fuller and
Jalen Cone went 8-for-8 from the free throw line. We really had great poise down the stretch to win a tough game. Right now, everybody is talking about survive and advance. I mean this humbly, we didn't survive, we won the game and the last four minutes were really good, and we do get to advance. We're excited about that."
Northern Arizona started the game with a 7-2 lead that quickly extended to 12-6. Once the Vandals found their footing, they took a 13-12 lead following an 8-0 run. After Fort made a triple that was followed by a Fuller layup, the 'Jacks entered a scoring lull that was snapped by four-straight points from Towt and a reverse layup from
Liam Lloyd for a 27-20 lead with under 10 minutes to play.
A 7-2 run by Idaho would cut the lead to two points and both sides would exchange triples as the game moved into a 34-34 tie. After that, the Vandals couldn't miss, making seven-straight field goals to retake a 38-36 lead. The teams found themselves locked at 42-42 with a second to play when Fuller fed Mains off of an inbounds pass to bank in a three-pointer at the buzzer to give NAU a 45-42 lead at the half.
Northern Arizona shot 58.1 percent from the field in the first 20 minutes behind 11 points from Cone and 10 from Fort, making seven three-pointers. Idaho was solid offensively as well, shooting 58.6 percent.
Mains picked up where he left off with a three-pointer to start the half, but the 'Jacks fell into some foul trouble as the game moved in to a 48-48 tie. Northern Arizona was then held without a field goal for three minutes as the Vandals went on an 8-0 run.
At the under-eight media timeout, the Lumberjacks led 69-62. After the break, they were then held without a field goal for 7:06 but made 9-of-10 from the free throw line to stay in the game. During that span, the Vandals used an 8-0 run to trim the lead down to 74-72. That would be as close as they would get, as Lloyd made two free throws and Fort hit a triple for the dagger, helping Northern Arizona secure an 87-76 first round victory.
Cone's 25 points tonight are the fourth-most points scored in a postseason game by a Lumberjack in program history and his five triples are tied for first. Additionally, his eight free throws are tied for third. Towt's 11 rebounds are the eighth-most.
As a team, NAU set program records for the most points scored (87) in a postseason game and three-pointers made (13). The 18 free throws made were tied for second.
Northern Arizona quickly turns the focus to tomorrow's quarterfinal against Eastern Washington. The Eagles won the regular season championship and had the nation's longest winning streak of 17 games before losing their final two regular season games to Idaho State and Montana State.
The Lumberjacks have had their season ended by EWU in the last two Big Sky tournaments and have lost 13-straight games to the Eagles, their longest active losing streak to a single opponent. This season, Eastern Washington swept NAU in the regular season, narrowly winning 79-76 on Jan. 21 in Flagstaff and a 72-55 victory on Feb. 16 in Cheney.
In 30 Big Sky postseason appearances, the Lumberjacks are now 17-28 all-time. The Lumberjacks have won two championships in 1998 and again in 2000, finishing runner-up six times. It has not made a championship appearance since 2008 when it lost to Portland State by a score of 67-51. Northern Arizona has not made the semifinals since 2015.
