FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. (November 26, 2025) – As the Northern Arizona men's basketball team's 14-point second half lead dwindled to four against the defending Ohio Valley Conference regular season champions, the Lumberjacks showed resolve in a 79-72 victory over Southeast Missouri on Wednesday.
NAU refused to let SEMO leave the Rolle Activity Center with the win, instead completing a 2-0 record in its Multi-Team Event. The Lumberjacks notched their third consecutive victory overall to improve to 4-2.
"I'm thankful that these guys call me 'Coach,'" said head coach
Shane Burcar. "They are high-character young men and they represent themselves, this university and the axe on their chests as well as anyone in the country. I'm proud of them and the scoreboard took care of itself tonight. SEMO is one of the top one or two teams in the Ohio Valley, so we'll enjoy Thanksgiving and get back to work."
Ryan Abelman recorded his second consecutive 20-point game to lead four Lumberjacks in double-figures.
Zack Davidson backed Abelman with a strong game in the post, recording 17 points and a game-high eight rebounds.
NAU shot 56% from the field in building a 39-29 halftime advantage and finished the game at 52.8% compared to 44.1% by SEMO. The Lumberjacks made 11 more free throws than the Redhawks and held a rebounding advantage of 37-33.
SEMO (2-5) grabbed its only lead of the game at 3-2 and NAU led for the final 36 minutes of the game after
Arne Osojnik broke an early 3-3 tie with a 3-pointer.
Abelman and Davidson combined to score nine points during a critical 13-5 run that opened up the Lumberjacks' advantage to 32-21 with five minutes left in the first half.
The second half featured a number of surges by both teams, first by SEMO as it chipped into NAU's lead to 45-41 within the first five minutes. The 'Jacks responded with an 11-2 run to extend their lead out to 13 points, and a 3-point play by Davidson gave NAU its largest lead of the game, 65-51, with 7:47 to play.
The Redhawks refused to go away quietly, twice climbing within four, the last of which was at 74-70 with 90 seconds left. With NAU clinging to the lead,
Isaiah Shaw was fouled on a key offensive rebound on the next possession and knocked down 1-of-2 at the line.
Abelman followed with an emphatic block – one of five by the Lumberjacks on the evening – on the other end and
Kavon Bradford, who totaled 12 points, calmly converted both free throws the next trip down. NAU put the exclamation point on the victory with a dunk by
Traivar Jackson in the game's final seconds after another defensive stop.
"They handled themselves well tonight," Burcar said. "This was a big confidence game for us. We learned from playing Drake, we learned from playing Arizona, and we got better from it."
Abelman shot 7-of-13 from the field and 4-of-7 from 3-point range in pouring in 20 points. Davidson was near-perfect from the floor at 6-for-7 and Jackson was perfect, making all seven of his field goal attempts off the bench in a 14-point performance.
"ETA – effort, toughness and attitude – we had to use that tonight," Jackson said. "We were focused. We were not satisfied with our win against Cal Poly and we had to come out again and prove that we could beat another team who is at the top of their league."
NAU wraps up its four-game homestand next Wednesday, Dec. 3, in the Rolle Activity Center with the first half of the Big Sky-Summit Challenge. The Lumberjacks host South Dakota State at 6 p.m.
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