OGDEN, Utah (February 3, 2025) – Northern Arizona Basketball's (13-10, 4-6) comeback efforts would fall short as the Jacks drop a 77-73 heartbreaker to Weber State (9-15, 3-7).
NAU's offensive efforts would spark early with
Trent McLaughlin quickly found back-to-back buckets for the Lumberjacks as they took a 9-8 start by the 17:23 mark. The Wildcats then capitalized on a scoring drought from NAU, going on a 28-6 run to put NAU in an early hole, as the Jacks trailed 34-15. Weber State's early success came from a 4-of-8 start from three-point range as Trevor Hennig hit two in the first ten minutes on the floor.
Coming out of the media timeout, the Wildcats feel 1-of-8 from the field while
Jayden Jackson ended Weber's hot streak with a three-pointer of his own as NAU looked to chip away at the WSU lead. While the 'Cats led by as much as 20, NAU was able to cut it to 12 by halftime, trailing 42-30 after McLaughlin sunk his second triple of the game ahead of the buzzer.
McLaughlin accounted for 17 of the Lumberjacks first-half point, trailed by Jackson's seven, and three apiece from
Carson Towt and
Leigh Rickwood-Pitt. NAU committed five first-half turnovers, compared top WSU's 1. The Jacks finished the half shooting 31.4 percent from the field and took the rebound advantage at 25-22 while Towt grabbed 10 boards.
NAU continued to shed the Wildcat lead, coming within seven as
Diego Campisano hit the three-shot for the Jacks, marking his eighth-straight game recording a three-pointer. A 10-2 run from the Jacks would bring NAU back within five, 55-60, with 9:13 to play as McLaughlin hit the in-bound jumper from
Monty Bowser.
Just ahead of the two-minute mark, Towt found the layup amongst traffic inside to bring NAU within two. With just under a minute to play, McLaughlin hit the second-chance triple to give the Jacks their first lead since the 17:01 mark in the first half, 70-69. Blaise Threatt followed up with a layup to regain the lead for WSU just before McLaughlin sunk his seventh triple of the game. Viljami Vartiainen responded for WSU with a triple, to take the 75-73 lead with :22 seconds to play as the Cats would go to the line once more to close out the game at 77-73.
McLaughlin finished with a career-high 35 point on seven triples while shooting 50.0 percent from the field. McLaughlin added five rebounds, four assists, and two steals.
Diego Campisano followed with 12 points, hitting four three pointers on nine attempts, adding three rebounds and a steal. Towt finished with 16 rebounds and eight points as the Jacks finished +4 on the glass.
Northern Arizona will return home to Flagstaff, following the four-game road stretch, to host Montana State on Thursday evening and Montana on Saturday evening. Both games will tip off at 6 p.m. MST at Findlay Toyota Court inside the Lawrence Walkup Skydome.
