FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. (March 2, 2026) – In his final game on Findlay Toyota Court at the Walkup Skydome,
Oakland Fort had his finest performance. Fort scored a career-high 26 points in Northern Arizona men's basketball's 76-65 loss to Montana State on Monday, marking the end of the regular season.
The Lumberjacks (10-21, 4-14 Big Sky) await Monday night's loser between Sacramento State and Idaho State – in a game yet to be concluded – in their conference tournament opener on Saturday. NAU will open the Big Sky Championships at Idaho Central Arena in Boise, Idaho at 5:30 p.m. MST.
"We're going to Boise and it'll be a new season," said head coach
Shane Burcar. "We can beat anybody and we can lose to anybody. Anything can happen. It's been proven year after year in Boise and that's our focus right now."
Fort eclipsed his previous career-high of 25 points set two years ago with a 10-for-12 shooting performance from the field. Fort drilled a career-best four 3-pointers, to go along with four assists and three rebounds in a season-high 34 minutes.
With NAU trailing 30-13 with five minutes to play in the first half, Fort single-handedly pulled the Lumberjacks back into the game. Fort scored NAU's final 12 minutes of the half and outscored the Bobcats on his own, 12-6, to bring NAU within 36-25 at the intermission.
The Lumberjacks blitzed the Bobcats to open the second half, quickly scoring the first six points to close to 36-31. A
Traivar Jackson dunk off a feed by Fort kept the Lumberjacks within 43-37 with 15:39 to play, but Montana State separated itself with a 16-0 run.
Even after going more than four minutes without scoring, NAU had one final run in it. The 'Jacks slowly started to chip away at their 22-point deficit and closed the gap to 64-53 on a Fort jumper with 4:40 remaining. Despite their push, the Lumberjacks could not get any closer though, as the Bobcats snapped a two-game losing streak to the 'Jacks in Flagstaff.
Montana State (18-13, 12-6 Big Sky) had five players score in double-figures led by Christian King's 18 points. He made four of Montana State's 12 3-pointers on the evening, as the Bobcats won the game behind the arc. They outscored the Lumberjacks by 15 points from long range as NAU only mustered a 7-for-21 showing collectively on 3-point attempts.
The Bobcats shot 50.9% for the game, while the Lumberjacks sat at 44.8%. After only making nine field goals in the first half, the 'Jacks settled in to shoot 51.5% from the deck in the second half.
Backing Fort's 26 points was
Diego Campisano, who also played his final game in Flagstaff. Campisano notched his fifth double-digit scoring game in the last six contests, putting in 14 points. His eight rebounds were matched by Jackson – NAU's third senior – who also recorded eight points and three blocks.
NAU now heads to Boise for the conference tournament, where the Lumberjacks hope to replicate the Cinderella run they made in 2023 when they advanced to the championship game as the No. 9 seed.
"We've done it before and there's guys on this team who went through that run," said Fort, whose buzzer-beating 3-pointer to upset top-seeded Eastern Washington spurred that tournament run three years ago. "My job, Diego's job, (
Ryan Abelman's) job is to feed that belief to the other guys when we get to Boise. It's three games to the championship and four games to win it, so we'll take it game-by-game."
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