BOISE, Idaho (March 8, 2025) – NAU Basketball picked up a first-round victory over the Eastern Washington Eagles on Saturday, finalizing a 66-53 win.
The Lumberjacks would trail to start the night as Eastern Washington sunk back-to-back triples to start the game, as
Carson Towt put NAU on the board with 18:14 on the clock, putting a stop to the Eags run. A
Trent McLaughlin triple would bring the Jacks back within one, trailing 8-7 with 14:33 to play. A
Jayden Jackson triple would quickly follow to give Northern Arizona their first lead at 10-8.
Trailing 19-16 at the under-eight media, the Jacks looked to build off the 7-of-18 start from the field while EWU started 7-for-15. The Jacks regained the lead from a mid-range jumper from McLaughlin, giving NAU a 20-19 lead with six minutes to play in the half, just before he sunk his first triple of the game, forcing EWU into a timeout with 5:19 to play.
Northern Arizona carried a 34-30 lead into halftime, led by 10 points from McLaughlin, eight from Towt, and seven from Campisano as the Jacks shot 44.8 percent from the field through the first 20 minutes on the floor. Eastern Washington went 42.3 percent from the field in the first frame, led by 12 from Mason Williams, followed by seven from Andrew Cook. With five rebounds in the first frame, Towt became the Jacks all-time leading rebounder in Northern Arizona program history, surpassing a record set in 1962 by Don Buttrum at 1,044.
Coming out of halftime,
Jayden Jackson put up a statement dunk to keep the momentum in favor of the Lumberjacks, followed by back-to-back triples from
Ryan Abelman and Campisano to hold a 42-37 lead with 17:25 to play. Campisano's third three-pointer of the night would give the Jacks the 46-41 lead with just over fourteen minutes remaining.
Heading into the under-12 media timeout, the Jacks held their largest lead of the game so far at 50-43, quickly extending to 52-43 from a McLaughlin driving layup. Jackson capitalized on EWU's next miss to take a layup inside, forcing the Eagles to take a timeout with 10:08 on the clock. A 10-0 run sparked over a three-minute span for Northern Arizona, holding the Eagles scoreless for five minutes on the floor, extending the lead to 56-43. The Jacks shot 44.4 percent from the field led by McLaughlin's 17 points, followed by 16 from Campisano and 13 from Jackson. NAU rallied back from having 10 turnovers in the first half then turning it around in the second half with only four.
The Jacks will now take on the No. 2 Montana Griz on Sunday evening at 7 p.m. MST and 8 p.m. Boise local time.
