The Northern Arizona men's basketball team held Northern Colorado to just two points over the last 2 minutes and 21 seconds of regulation in one of the most effort-filled series of basketball in the 2011-12 season thus far.
The Lumberjacks (5-17 overall, 1-9 Big Sky Conference) trailed the Bears 52-45 with just under 4 minutes to play when NAU outscored Northern Colorado (7-13, 4-5) 11-2 to force the Bears into overtime.
"Overall we fought hard and came back at the end and showed some heart we haven't seen in a while," freshman guard James Douglas said about the Lumberjacks' surge.
NAU and the Bears battled back and forth through the 5-minute overtime, but Douglas missed a last-second jumpshot and the Jacks lost their ninth-straight game, 64-62.
The Lumberjacks trailed early after being outscored 30-8 in the paint, and the Bears held a 31-28 halftime lead, but NAU wasn't about to call it quits. The Lumberjacks' Stallon Saldivar sparked NAU's second-half comeback with a couple of baseline baskets and enough energy to fill the gym.
NAU interim head coach Dave Brown said the effort was huge for the Lumberjacks and added he hoped the team could build something positive on that foundation.
"We have young men who have a will to win, and I was very proud of that," Brown said. "They showed a better effort throughout the whole game than we've seen in our last two outings."
Junior guard Michael Dunn said it was a tough atmosphere in the locker room after the loss, but that the whole team knows they're on the right track to getting a much-needed win.
"It was a tough loss but the second-half rally, we just fed off the energy from the fans," Dunn said. "We just didn't want to quit and show everybody that we're a team and that we can play."
Douglas credited his team for the effort and took responsibility for missing the final shot -- which was short and would have tied the game to force double-overtime -- by saying he needs to make better shot choices.
"We got a lot of rebounds, our bigs played really well and our defense played great," Douglas said. "We know we can play defense, so now we just have to work on getting better looks and taking better shots. The last shot wasn't a good look."
Douglas led the Lumberjacks with 22 points and added five assists and six rebounds for NAU. Dunn, who said rebounding was something emphasized after the loss to Sacramento State, led NAU with nine boards and contributed 13 points, coming just short of the double-double.
"I just wanted to help my team however I could," Dunn said.
The Bears out-rebounded NAU 48-41, but it was Northern Colorado's inside game that really kept the Jacks down.
Northern Colorado scored a total of 40 points in the paint to just 26 for NAU, and Brown said that part of the game is something the Jacks have to be more confident about.
"Teams bang around in there and we're not as aggressive with our inside defenses as a lot of teams and we have some young players," he said. "We just have to build some confidence and some intensity with the inside defense, it'll just take some time."
Emmanuel Addo was the Bears' leading scorer with 17 points while Tate Unrugh added 16, and Tevin Svihovec scored 11.
Monday's game may have been the motivation that NAU needs going into the rest of the week, as the Lumberjacks host Eastern Washington on Thursday and Portland State on Saturday.
Douglas said the team just needs to be able to finish games to start winning and added that the team is hungry for a win.
"Coming into the game against Eastern Washington, we've got a lot of fire. Eastern Washington better watch out," he said. "It felt amazing and it feels good to have a lead and see the guys want to put in the effort. It's good to see we have some real competitors on the team."
Bill Harris can be reached at bharris@azdailysun.com, or 556-2251.
