Feeling a tad disrespected after a subpar performance last weekend, Shane Johannsen, Josh Lepley and the rest of NAU's big men boosted their morale by throwing a party Thursday night against visiting Idaho State.

A paint party, that is.

Johannsen commenced the festivities by scoring the game's opening points on a tip-in, and the fun didn't stop until the final horn trumpeted the Lumberjacks' first Big Sky Conference victory of the season.

Just one game after Northern Colorado outscored NAU 26-12 in the paint, Johannsen, Lepley and company came out determined to prove they can be among the conference's top frontcourts.

The Lumberjacks set the tempo early and outscored Idaho State 28-20 in the paint on the strength of 11 points from Johannsen and 10 from Lepley.

"Shane and I took that personally," Lepley said of published comments made after the Northern Colorado game. "We have it in our lockers right now hanging up. We made an emphasis tonight that we're not going to be the weakest post players in this league. We're determined that we're the best, and that's what we tried to do tonight."

The Lumberjacks had a difficult time getting the ball down low in Saturday night's loss to Northern Colorado, but made a concerted effort to feed the big men Thursday night.

In turn, the strategy opened up good looks on the perimeter for guards Cameron Jones (26 points) and Eric Platt (13 points), who combined for 5 of 10 shooting from behind the 3-point arc.

"It makes the perimeter game a lot easier when Lepley and Shane get a post touch, everybody collapses and it helps us out on offense," Jones said. "Going into Northern Colorado, we didn't get them the ball, and that was a horrible job on our part. We learned our lesson, and we did our job today and it paid off for us on the perimeter."

It also paid big dividends down the stretch.

Idaho State cut a 20-point deficit in half with a 10-0 run late in the game, but Johannsen halted the run and shifted momentum when he slammed home a feed from driving point guard Julian Olubuyi with 4:37 left.

The solid performance was a huge lift to a beleaguered bunch that lost its positional coach two weeks ago when top assistant Billy Hix resigned. Assistant Will Hensley, who had been working with the guards, has been helping out with the post players since Hix's departure.

"We have to put it behind us and move forward because we can't dwell on what happened," said Lepley, who connected on 5 of 8 shots Thursday and, perhaps more importantly, didn't commit a foul. "If we stop moving, we're just going to keep losing games, so we took it, felt it for a minute, and then moved on.

"I don't think that has anything to do with why we weren't doing what we need to do," he added. "I think it was just not being determined enough, not focusing, just mental toughness is what we needed. We finally fixed those things tonight and made some big steps."

REID IN, DEANGELO OUT

DeAngelo Jones missed Thursday's game because of a lingering groin injury he aggravated last weekend against Northern Colorado.

NAU coach Mike Adras said he wasn't sure when the junior forward, who's averaging 8.2 points per game, will return to the lineup.

"I'm assuming he's going to be out for a while, and here we go again," Adras said. "It's just been a season of not having a full squad. That just forces somebody else to have to step up."

Reid Wallace, who didn't see the court in NAU's previous game, got most of Jones' minutes Thursday night. The freshman forward didn't score in nine minutes, but had a block and won the praise of Adras after the game.

"I thought Reid played pretty well," Adras said. "His numbers didn't indicate it in the nine minutes that he played tonight, but I thought that he played probably as hard as he's played this year, which is good to see."

Jones originally hurt the groin during NAU's two-game swing at Air Force and Colorado State in December.

NO DISPUTES THIS TIME

Working the game Thursday night was official Chris Rastatter, who recently found himself in the spotlight while refereeing the disputed finish between Arizona and Lipscomb last month.

Rastatter was among the officials who huddled together and ruled that Nic Wise's 3-pointer beat the game clock, lifting Arizona to a 83-82 overtime victory at the McKale Center on Dec. 21.

Rastatter's evening in Flagstaff was less eventful, although he did draw at least one dispute from Adras.

"I thought the ball went off (an Idaho State player's) knee and he came over and said, 'Doc Abeshaus agrees with me; therefore, I must be right,'" Adras said, referencing an exchange the official had with noted NAU superfan Merrill Abeshaus, who sits courtside for every home game.

"I thought (Rastatter) was wrong, but I'm not one to argue with Doc Abeshaus," Adras quipped.

BENGALS' BIGGEST FAN

There was at least one Flagstaff resident in the Skydome not cheering for the home team Thursday night.

Flagstaff High graduate Brad Shedd didn't try to conceal his allegiance. Shedd, an offensive lineman on the Bengals' football team, wore his letterman jacket while sitting prominently near the top of the north stands behind the basket.

Rory Faust can be reached at rfaust@azdailysun.com or 556-2257.