Big Sky basketball: NAU pulls away late, tops Idaho

Quinton Upshur’s 3-pointer with just less than 2 minutes to play Thursday gave Northern Arizona the lead and the Lumberjacks padded it in the final minute to beat Idaho 72-65 in Flagstaff, Arizona.

The teams were within a field goal of each other for most of the final 10 minutes of the game. Sekou Wiggs’ three-point play with 2:16 left gave the Vandals a 65-64 lead, but Upshur answered with his 3-pointer and Idaho did not score again.

“We didn’t execute the details of the game,” Idaho coach Don Verlin said. “We didn’t execute well enough against the press. We didn’t do a good job in transition in the first half. We didn’t rebound in the first half.”

Mike Scott missed two Idaho 3-point attempts and the Vandals missed four layups in the final 1:36.

Kris Yanku scored 22 points to lead Northern Arizona and Ako Kaluna added 18. Upshur finished with 14 points.

Connor Hill led Idaho (11-13, 6-7) with 20 points.

Montana 88, Idaho State 77: Martin Breunig scored 22 points on 10-for-14 shooting and grabbed eight rebounds to lead the Grizzlies to a win over the Bengals in Missoula.

Brandon Gfeller (Colfax) contributed 18 points and Jordan Gregory added 16 as Montana shot 59.2 percent, including 12 of 24 on 3-pointers, to extend its win streak to four. Mario Dunn had 11 points and Michael Weisner had 10.

The Grizzlies opened with a 13-2 run fueled by three of Gfeller’s five 3-pointers and never trailed in the game, taking a 44-30 advantage into the break.

Sacramento State 66, Northern Colorado 59: Mikh McKinney scored 23 points and helped the Hornets hold off the Bears in Sacramento, California.

Northern Colorado rallied from a seven-point halftime deficit and led 49-46 with 6:44 to go. McKinney scored eight straight points and 10 in a 16-4 run for a 62-53 lead. Dylan Garrity added 12 points for the Hornets, who set a Division-I era program record for victories with 17.

Weber State 74, Montana State 71: Joel Bolomboy scored 21 points and grabbed 12 rebounds as the Wildcats never trailed in picking up a win over the Bobcats in Bozeman.

Michael Dison hit a 3-pointer with 2 seconds left to make it a 72-71 game.

Hayden Hunter split four free throws to push the lead to three and Dison missed a 3-point attempt at the buzzer.

Portland State 80, North Dakota 70: DaShaun Wiggins scored 27 points, including 10 of 10 at the line, to help the Vikings to victory over North Dakota in Portland.

Tiegbe Bamba added 17 points and nine rebounds for Portland State.

Neither team shot the ball well, each finishing less than 45 percent.

But Portland State got to the free-throw line 28 times, its second-highest mark of the season, and hit 25, also its second-highest of total of the year.