If it were a Big Sky game, NAU coach Mike Adras said he would be delighted with a 13-point win.
Instead, the Lumberjack basketball team beat Texas-Pan American 68-55 on Wednesday night at the Rolle Activity Center in a difficult and sloppy game, Adras said.
Still, the coach never felt panicked in the Jacks' ability to put away the Broncs (3-7).
"We were in control the entire game," Adras said. "Even when that team made a couple of buckets in a row, we never let them have lengthy periods of feeling good about themselves."
The Jacks (7-2) started the game with a 10-2 run in the first five minutes but allowed the Broncs back into the game at 10-8. The Jacks built a 29-23 halftime lead, though Broncs' defense forced NAU to commit turnovers throughout the first period. That, along with the 11 team fouls hindered NAU's scoring quite a bit.
"It was a physical game," Adras said. "I told the guys afterward it reminded me of Big Sky play.
"They did a good job of controlling and containing us in transition. You could see that was truly a focus of their gameplan."
Not helping matters was the Jacks' free-throw shooting. They were 9 of 16 in the first and then went 15 for 16 after the break.
"We came out with better focus in the second half and limited our turnovers a little better," NAU forward Shane Johannsen said. "We were a little too rushed in the first half and took some bad shots. We came a little more under control in the second half.
Although the Broncs' pulled within two points shortly after halftime, some big shots by Gabe Rogers and an alley-oop dunk from Stallon Saldivar to Austin Smith put the momentum and energy on NAU's side.
"It was a good battle there for most of the second half," Adras said. "Some free throws and timely shots ultimately did them in."
Senior guard Cameron Jones led NAU with 27 points on 8 of 20 shooting. Jones said the shots were there for Jacks, they were just a bit impatient and tried to score too quickly. The Broncs presented some trouble too and had enough size to guard NAU's big men.
"They were a real chippy team," Jones said. "They want to (put bodies) on us and out-physical us. We've played games like that before -- we have to learn how to play all types of ways and we responded tonight."
None of the Jacks' big men had more than four shots. Johannsen was 3 of 4 for seven points and had 10 rebounds while Smith was 1 for 1 and Josh Leply was 1 for 2.
"We just didn't get the ball in the post enough," Adras said. "We weren't clicking all the way, that's for sure."
NAU made enough plays down the stretch to rally past Texas-Pan American for its seventh consecutive win. The Jacks never trailed in the game, either.
NAU will travel to face USC on Saturday at 2 p.m. The Trojans are 5-4 and 4-1 at home this season.
Jacob May can be reached at jmay@azdailysun.com or 556-2257.
