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Friday, November 22, 2024

Men’s Hoops Strings Together Spirited Rally in 89-84 Loss to Montana State

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Northern Arizona University Athletics issued the following announcement on Jan. 20.

Trailing by as much as 17 points in the second half, the Northern Arizona slowly chipped away before a furious comeback came up just shy in an 89-84 loss to Montana State Thursday night in the Walkup Skydome.

The Lumberjacks' two-game win streak came to an end despite shooting 53.6 percent from the field – and 58.1 percent in the second half alone – as they fell to 6-10 overall and 2-3 in league play. The Bobcats, notching their sixth consecutive victory over the 'Jacks, improved to 13-5 and 5-2 in conference.

"At halftime, we spoke about winning every four minutes to get back into the game and we did a good job of that," said head coach Shane Burcar. "I did like our fight in our team and that's something we're trying to get consistent, but we had way too many fouls and we can't guard the free throw line when they shoot 31 free throws. It's a hard loss to take because it was a wasted opportunity, and that's not to take anything away from Montana State."

Sophomore Jalen Cone led the Lumberjacks with 26 points, a total matched by the Bobcats' Xavier Bishop, as nine total players scored double-digit points in the high-scoring affair. Cone shot 8-for-15 from the field, and 5-of-9 from behind the arc, with 18 of his 26 points coming after halftime.

Trailing by a game-high 17 points at 59-42 with 14:46 left, Cone scored nine straight NAU points during a 9-1 run that brought the 'Jacks back within nine in a 90-second span. Montana State responded and extended its lead back out to 72-58 with 8:22 remaining before junior Mason Stark ignited another momentum-shifting run.

Stark hit a three and followed with a fast break bucket off his own block on the defensive end to quickly cut the Bobcats' lead to single digits. He would hit a second triple with four minutes left to make it a 76-68 game and then Cone erupted.

Cone scored nine of NAU's next 11 points, the last three on his fifth trey of the night, to tie the score and bring the Lumberjacks' largest home crowd of the season to their feet. However after Cone's three evened the scoreboard at 79-79 with 1:35 to play, a Bobcat three-point play on the ensuing possession put Montana State ahead for good.

The Lumberjacks did manage one final surge down eight with under 19 seconds left, when redshirt junior Jay Green finished at the rim and redshirt sophomore Keith Haymon hit a three following a Bobcat turnover to close the gap to 87-84 with 9.4 seconds on the clock. But two final free throws by Bishop sealed the win for the road team.

NAU had no issues scoring in the first half, drilling five of its 12 three-pointers and shooting 48 percent from the field, but still went into the half behind 50-35. Montana State not only shot the ball well in the first 20 minutes, converting at a 54.5 percent clip and hitting on 7-of-12 attempts from beyond the arc, but also took advantage of extra opportunities with a 12-2 advantage off turnovers and 11-4 on second chance points.

From a defensive standpoint, the Lumberjacks limited the Bobcats to only 40.9 percent shooting in the second half. However, 16 second half fouls resulted in 23 Montana State free throw attempts and 19 makes. For the game, the Bobcats were 26-of-31 (83.9 percent) at the line in the most free throws made by an NAU opponent since San Jose State knocked down 30 on Dec. 15, 2018.

Even in the loss, NAU had its highest scoring output against a Division I opponent in exactly two months against a Montana State team that was only allowing 66.5 points per game in conference play. In a battle between two of the Big Sky's top rebounding teams, the teams were squared at 30 apiece with redshirt freshman Carson Towt coming down with a team-high nine.

Redshirt junior Nik Mains (13), Haymon (12) and Towt (10) all reached double-digits in the scoring column joining Cone. Towt also recorded a career-high three blocks.

NAU wraps up the week on Saturday versus Montana at 2 p.m. in the Walkup Skydome.

Original source can be found here.

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