NAU edged by Idaho State for 5th loss in a row

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POCATELLO, Idaho -- Northern Arizona senior guard Gino Littles scored a career-best 22 points, but it wasn’t enough as the Lumberjacks suffered a 64-60 loss at Idaho State on Saturday night at Holt Arena.

Jared Stutzman finished with 18 points and eight rebounds to lead Idaho State (8-6, 3-0 Big Sky Conference). Novak Topalovic added 11 points and seven rebounds and Balint Mocsan scored 10 for the Bengals, who upped their win streak to four and are 3-0 in conference play for the first time since opening the 2006-07 conference season with five wins in a row.

The Lumberjacks (3-14, 0-4) have lost five in a row and eight of nine. Jojo Anderson scored nine of his 11 points in the final 4 minutes, 11 seconds.

The Bengals led 26-20 at halftime and Topalovic's dunk sparked a 9-0 run early in the second half to push the lead to 35-24. Anderson hit three free throws to pull the Lumberjacks within 54-50 with 4:31 left to play.

Brandon Boyd scored all seven of his points over the next 2:22 to put the Bengals up 63-54. But Anderson hit a 3 and three more free throws to cut the deficit to 63-60 with 53 seconds left.

NAU connected on 9 of its final 11 field goals to give itself a chance at the comeback win, but junior Torry Johnson was whistled for an offensive foul with 1.7 seconds left and NAU trailing 63-60, allowing Idaho State to escape with the victory.

"The guys just played their tails off, even when we got down by 12 with nine minutes to go," NAU head coach Jack Murphy said.  "These last two Saturdays have been heartbreaking."

The Lumberjacks return to action next weekend when they travel to Cedar City, Utah for their third consecutive road game on Saturday at Southern Utah.