On Thursday night, the Lumberjacks obliterated the lingering image from the last time they played Montana State.
It turns out, they obliterated the Bobcats, too -- almost all from the inside.
After Montana State sped past the NAU basketball team 44-25 in the first half on New Year's Eve, the Jacks returned the favor on Thursday at Rolle Activity Center, holding the Bobcats to 18 points in the first 20 minutes before going on to win 61-41 for their third straight victory. MSU (11-11 overall, 5-5 Big Sky Conference) lost its fourth consecutive game and surrendered the third place position in the Big Sky standings to the Jacks (13-8, 5-4).
The victory went to the Jacks' improved defensive effort and by outscoring the Bobcats 42-14 in the paint.
"You know what? That's just because Shane Johannsen is a beast," said NAU forward Austin Smith, crediting the dominant inside presence to Johannsen's 16 points on a perfect 8-of-8 shooting.
Smith had nine points and four rebounds in 13 minutes while Durrell Norman had eight points and led the Jacks with eight rebounds.
Smith was quick to credit Norman as well.
"And Durrell Norman was a beast," he said. "Our big guys were very, very good tonight."
Johannsen's perfect night -- tied for fifth best in NAU history -- helped solidify his position as the NCAA leader in field goal percentage at 75.9 percent (88 of 116). The big men's performance was a result of each of them feeding off each other, said NAU coach Mike Adras, who moved into third place in Big Sky history with his 95th conference win.
"I think Shane played so well because Austin Smith played so well," Adras said. "Austin was in the game a lot more and stayed out of foul trouble. It allowed Shane to be more fresh in the game and Shane's numbers are reflective of the energy he had."
Johannsen, however, said it wasn't too difficult a night to score buckets.
"It kind of happens when all you do is shoot layups and your teammates give you open shots," he said.
On the defensive end, Norman's effort guarding MSU's second-leading scorer Bobby Howard spurred the rest of the team. The Jacks had 15 steals, including four by Johannsen and three by point guard Stallon Saldivar.
"Durrell Norman was terrific tonight on Bobby Howard and other guys just picked up on his energy and wanted to join in the parade," Adras said.
Erik Rush, the Bobcats' leading scorer, meanwhile, was held to six points, nine points below his season average.
"We're running the same stuff, it's just we're actually playing hard on defense," said Smith, citing the Jacks are a much different team than the last time the two squads met. "We're going back to the way we started the season."
Even when the Bobcats had opportunities for easy points, they failed -- sometimes miserably. Smith was forced to guard a 3-on-1 breakaway while the Jacks were up 25-14 in the first half and came up with a block.
"To be completely honest, I probably fouled the dude," Smith said. "That's the first time I've gotten away with a foul this year."
Montana State was held to a season-low 35.3 field goal percentage and only converted 16.7 percent from 3-point range. NAU began the game with an 8-0 run and held MSU scoreless for the first 6 1/2 minutes.
"The last three games, they've really figured out how to play with each other on the defensive end and it's reflective on that scoreboard," Adras said.
The Jacks hope it continues on Saturday when they face Montana (16-6, 8-2), which fell to Weber State 68-52 on Thursday.
"We're on Cloud Nine right now," Smith said. "We have a taste of winning in our mouth right now and we want to keep eating. It tastes good."
Jacob May can be reached at jmay@azdailysun.com or 556-2257.
