BOISE, Idaho (March 7, 2023) – The Northern Arizona University men's basketball team is advancing to the Big Sky Conference title game for the first time since 2008 after an 83-71 victory over the No. 4 seeded Montana Grizzlies today in the semifinals in Boise, Idaho, at Idaho Central Arena. The Lumberjacks are the first No. 9 seed to advance to a Big Sky title game.
Northern Arizona will play either No. 2 Montana State or No. 3 Weber State. NAU advanced to tonight's semifinal after topping No. 10 Idaho 87-76 in the first round and No. 1 Eastern Washington, 81-80, after a buzzer beater from true freshman
Oakland Fort in the quarterfinals.
NAU is going for its third NCAA Championships berth in its program history, winning in 1998 and 2000.
The Lumberjacks improve to 12-22 overall after tonight's win, ending the Grizzlies season at 17-14. The two squads had faced off twice in the regular season with each picking up a one-point victory on their own home floors.
Junior
Jalen Cone fired off 28 points tonight over the Grizzlies going 6-of-10 from three-point range, 8-of-12 from the field, and a perfect 6-for-6 from the free throw line. Both
Carson Towt and
Xavier Fuller scored 14 points, picking up nine and eight rebounds, respectively. The Lumberjacks trailed by two points at the half before exploding and outscoring Montana 51-37 in the second half after shooting 56.7 percent from the field.
NAU was able to limit Aanen Moody, who had scored 28 points the night before against Idaho State, to six points and 0-for-5 from three-point range.
Northern Arizona led for 30:59 of a contest that had four ties and four lead changes.
"What a fun night tonight is. It's not even close to being done with yet, we have a lot of work to do after this game. But let's go to the fun part right now – I couldn't be happier for all of the fans of Northern Arizona University, representing our great University and Flagstaff, Ariz.," said head coach
Shane Burcar. "
Jalen Cone and
Carson Towt played remarkable games. I won't say unreal or unbelievable, because this is who these guys are every single night. The other eight guys in our locker room are so well connected and when you have a belief in something and your mindset is proper, you can go on these run rides. It's not even a miracle ride for us right now. I couldn't be happier for everybody. And the character of these young men is why we have a chance to get to the NCAA Tournament."
The Lumberjacks came out aggressive on both sides of the floor, as consecutive
Jalen Cone three-pointers opened the scoring.
Liam Lloyd joined in early as well, scoring four points for a 10-4 lead in NAU's favor. On the defensive end, both Cone and
Nik Mains drew charges, helping the 'Jacks hold a 10-7 lead at the first media timeout.
Out of the break,
Carson Towt continued the aggressiveness on both sides of the floor, making a contested layup for a 12-7 lead, and drawing NAU's third charge of the game.
Continuing solid work on the defensive end, Northern Arizona held Montana without a field goal for 4:35, until the Griz made a triple to cut the lead to one, 14-13. The 'Jacks immediately stepped back up on the offensive end, going on a 5-0 run that included a
Jack Wistrcill a layup and Cone's third three-pointer to extend the lead back up to 19-13.
Four-straight points for the Griz gave the game its first tie at 21-21 before Cone's fourth three-pointer in the corner off an inbounds play put the lead back in NAU's hands. With just four minutes to go, Montana took its first lead of the game. Cone's fifth three-pointer gave NAU the lead the back for a moment before the Griz countered with a three of their own to go ahead 30-27.
Montana grew its largest lead and looked to pull ahead up 32-29 before the 'Jacks drew their fourth charge to keep the game within their grasp. Following the charge, Wistrcill made a three-pointer from the corner to put the Lumberjacks back up. After leading for 13:58 of the first half, Northern Arizona narrowly trailed 34-32 at the break. Cone led all scorers with 15 points at the half after going 5-for-6 from three-point range.
The Lumberjacks came out and used a 4-0 run to retie the contest, 36-36. A 7-2 run from Northern Arizona that began with a Lloyd three-pointer gave the Lumberjacks a 43-40 lead with 15 minutes left to play.
That's when NAU started to heat up, as Cone's sixth triple gave the 'Jacks a 54-46 lead and the team went on to make five of their next six shot attempts. The Griz went on a 5-0 run and cut the lead down to 58-51, but a Towt dunk put NAU up by 10 with five minutes left to play.
With two minutes left, the Griz cut the lead down to five points, but the 'Jacks made 10-of-10 free throws down the final stretch, and were 18-of-20 overall, to seal the 83-71 victory.
