N. Arizona Holds Off Eastern

Northern Arizona University’s Lumberjacks withstood the deadly second-half shooting of Eastern Washington’s Shannon Taylor Saturday night to claim an important 94-79 Big Sky Conference men’s victory.

Taylor poured in 22 points after the intermission, but NAU, which pulled into a tie with idle Weber State for the conference lead, fought off several EWU rallies to improve its season record to 15-7.

The Lumberjacks are 9-3 in Big Sky play with two weeks to go in the regular season.

Eastern, which overcame a sluggish start to nearly match NAU in the streak-filled, foul-marked battle, dropped to 12-10, 6-6.

Although the visiting Eagles scored the first three points of the game, the Lumberjacks ran off the next 11 and soon led 28-13. They led by 13 points or more through the rest of the half and went to the dressing room with a 37-24 lead.

Eastern’s Mike Lewis buried a 3-pointer to begin the second half, cutting the deficit to 10 points. But NAU soon reeled off a 10-point run that made the score 59-36.

EWU came back again. When Taylor, held to a single point in the first half, hit his third 3-pointer, the Eagles trailed by only nine points, at 74-65, just outside the 5-minute mark.

NAU ran off another 10 straight points before Taylor hit another trey, leaving the score at 86-70. That was the last gasp. Chris White became the second Eagle to foul out at the 3:20 mark, and Taylor fouled out himself after putting in two more 3-pointers.

The Lumberjacks, shooting brilliantly at the foul line, put the game on ice with free throws.

Taylor made six 3-point baskets and finished with 23 points. Lewis and Karim Scott each scored 14.

Northern Arizona 94, EWU 79

E. Washington (12-10) - Berger 3-8 1-1 7, Scott 6-14 2-2 14, K. Lewis 1-4 0-0 2, Williams 4-10 1-2 11, M. Lewis 5-6 3-4 14, McGee 2-5 1-2 5, Taylor 6-12 5-7 23, Sims 0-1 0-1 0, White 0-1 1-2 1, Humbert 1-2 0-0 2. Totals 28-63 14-21 79.

N. Arizona (15-7) - Mavis 3-8 5-5 12, Hix 3-6 0-0 7, Frank 5-10 9-9 19, Akina 0-3 4-4 4, Land 3-5 7-8 15, McNair 2-7 3-4 7, Hutchings 2-5 4-4 9, Polyblank 2-2 1-3 5, McClintock 5-6 6-8 16. Totals 25-52 39-45 94.

Halftime-N. Arizona 37, E. Washington 23. 3-Point goals-E. Washington 9-20 (Taylor 6-11, Williams 2-4, M. Lewis 1-1, Berger 0-1, McGee 0-1, Scott 0-2). N. Arizona 5-8 (Land 2-3, Hutchings 1-1, Hix 1-1, Mavis 1-3). Fouled out-K. Lewis, Taylor, White, McClintock. Rebounds-E. Washington 30 (Scott 7), N. Arizona 41 (Hix 10). Assists-E. Washington 14 (Williams 8), N. Arizona 20 (Akina 7). Total fouls-E. Washington 33, N. Arizona 21. A-1,402.