NAU rally falls short against Idaho State

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FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. -- Northern Arizona sophomore Chris Bowling missed a three-pointer at the buzzer, allowing Idaho State to escape with a 63-61 victory over the NAU men’s basketball team on Thursday night at the J. Lawrence Walkup Skydome .

The Lumberjacks (4-19, 1-9 Big Sky) rallied from 16 points and had a chance to win after Idaho State’s Balint Moscan missed a pair of free-throw attempts.

The Bengals led 61-54 with less than a minute remaining in regulation, but the ‘Jacks got a three-pointer from Gino Littles, two free throws by Torry Johnson and a clutch steal and layup by Brooks DeBisschop to cut the deficit to 63-61 just prior to the misses from the charity stripe by Moscan.

“It is tough to be the home team and see a visiting team walk out of your building happy” NAU head coach Jack Murphy said.  “Once again we shot ourselves in the foot.  In the first half our defense was pathetic, it was non-existent, and we have to come out and compete from the opening jump.

 

“I am very proud of our guys for competing and having the ball with a chance to win, but I was so disappointed with our first-half performance on the defensive end of the floor.”

Gary Chivichyan scored 18 points and made four 3-pointers to lead Idaho State (10-10, 5-4  Big Sky). Brandon Boyd added 13 points with four assists, and Jared Stutzman scored 12 points for the Bengals, who were outscored 34-18 in the paint but made nine 3-pointers.

With the scored tied at 28, Idaho State put together a 20-4 run to take a 48-32 lead early in the second half.

DeBisschop was one of the biggest highlights of the night for the Lumberjacks as he pulled down a career-best 18 rebounds -- the highest single-game total by any Big Sky Conference player this season.  The sophomore also tallied 10 points for his team-leading fourth double-double.

Freshman Karl Harris was aggressive on the offensive end all evening as he drove and sliced his way to a career-high 22 points as four Lumberjacks finished the night with double-digit scoring totals.  Johnson added 15 for his fourth consecutive double-figure scoring effort, and Gino Littles added 10.

NAU shot just 35.4 percent from the field, 4 of 21 from 3-point range and 11 of 19 from the free-throw line, but the Lumberjacks were able to battle back on the strength of 19 offensive rebounds and a 45-33 overall rebounding advantage.

 

Six of nine losses for NAU in conference play have been decided by six points or less.