With the final game of the first half of Big Sky Conference play today at Idaho State, one of the developments on the Northern Arizona men's basketball team during league play has been the improved play of the Lumberjack post players.
"Since the Christmas break, we spent awful lot of time with our big players working on technique and confidence, trying to get them to see they can do some good things if they simplify some of their moves," head coach Dave Brown said. "It is an on-going process, and something that takes a lot of practice and patience."
Junior Ephraim Ekanem, a 6 foot, 7 inch forward from Chino, Calif., has shown the most improvement of late, scoring a career-high 12 points at Weber State, including an 8-point performance in the first half that set an early tone in the game. He has posted back-to-back double-digit performances over the last two games for the first time this season and averaged 10 points and five rebounds in the last three contests.
"It is good to see Big E [Ephraim] responding, and he has had some good games," Brown said. "He has a great touch around the rim, and he is strong and quick enough that he can get in and get some shots up. We are trying to play off of that, and he has done a great job."
Ekanem joins a post group including Max Jacobsen, Ben Olayinka, Gaellen Bewernick and Durrell Norman that is hard-working despite the lack of overall size. Norman is fifth in the conference in rebounding at 6.5 boards per game, despite being just 6-4, the ninth-best rebounding rate in Division I among players 6-4 or under.
Jacobsen has scored in the last five games played, recording 17 points over a three-game stretch for his best collection of games this season. He suffered a sprained ankle against Montana State and is working with athletic trainer Ryan Pinson to get back on the court maybe as soon as today against Idaho State.
Bewernick is scoring 5.2 points per game and shooting more than 57 percent from the floor. He went 4-for-7 against the Wildcats on Thursday, scoring eight points. Olayinka stepped in with Jacobsen hurt against Montana State, getting to the foul line and contributing seven points off the bench.
Tipoff is scheduled for 7:05 p.m. from Holt Arena tonight. The game can be heard on the Lumberjack Radio Network on 105.1 The Big Talker and online via The Big Talker website. Fans can also catch the action via The Big Talker mobile app. It is also available with free video on Big Sky TV.
WOMEN'S BASKETBALL
Coming off a 71-58 Big Sky win over Weber State on Thursday, the NAU women's basketball team (6-13, 1-6 BSC) faces a steep challenge, as they will host Idaho State (13-5, 5-0 BSC), the only remaining undefeated team in the Big Sky, at 3:05 p.m. today at the Rolle Activity Center. Today is Pack the Rolle Day, with the game to be broadcast live on Fox Sports Arizona Plus, Fox College Sports Pacific and NAU-TV.
"Idaho State is just a solid team; there isn't one player that really jumps out at you, but they have so many good players that play great together," NAU head coach Laurie Kelly said. "They play very team oriented offense and defense and just have solid players. We know we put ourselves in a huge hole, and we're realistic about what we need to do to get out of it. We just have to worry about each game, and we took Weber State seriously and needed that win to get ready to try to upset Idaho State."
As part of Pack the Rolle day, today's festivities will including Women's Basketball Alumnae Day and Girl Scout Day, in which girl scouts will receive free admission, a scout badge and will be on the court for the national anthem. The first 100 students at the game will also receive free pizza and drink.
NAU arguably put together its best all-around game of the season Thursday, as all 11 players that saw court time contributed to a 71-58 win over Weber State. Nobody played more than 27 minutes, and 10 of the 11 players had double-digit minutes. All 11 Lumberjacks that played scored at least one point, 10 of the eleven players recorded at least one rebound, and eight players had at least one assist. NAU also totaled 14 steals and hit six three-pointers, and the Lumberjacks made 13 of 17 free-throw attempts and went 8 of 8 from the line to ice the game in the final two minutes.
Idaho State head coach Seton Sobolewski, a Flagstaff native, and NAU assistant coach Eric Fundalewicz have a long history of coaching both with and against each other. They both began as student managers for the NAU women's basketball team, working together during the 1999-2000 season. Fundalewicz graduated in 2000, and Sobolewski followed in 2001, with the two to meet up again and work together as assistants for the men's and women's basketball teams at Yavapai College during the 2001-02 season. The pair faced off for the first time during the 2003-04 season when Fundalewicz was an assistant at Cal State Northridge and Sobolewski was an assistant at UC Riverside, both members of the Big West conference.
WOMEN'S TENNIS
Freshmen Hannah Stone and Johanna Vang teamed up for a doubles victory in their collegiate debuts, but No. 59 UC Davis claimed the doubles point by winning the two remaining doubles matches en route to a 7-0 victory over the Northern Arizona women's tennis team Friday at the Whiteman Tennis Center. Stone and Vang's 8-1 win at No. 2 doubles was the Lumberjacks' only victory of the day in both teams' season opener.
"Hannah and Johanna came out with a ton of energy," director of tennis Kim Bruno said. "They did everything right. They poached, they set up points, and they didn't make errors. The way they played doubles is the way we need to play doubles. That's what it takes to win a match."
After Stone and Vang beat Nicole Koehly and Dahra Zamudio convincingly in the first doubles match, UC Davis tied it with a win at No. 1 when Nicole Koehly and Dahra Zamudio defeated juniors Malia Wahinepio and Nicole Perez, 8-3. The doubles point came down to the No. 3 match, where juniors Alice Pacaut and Alice Walker fell behind 7-3 to the Aggies' Lauren Curry and Ellie Edles. Pacaut and Walker would bring the match to 7-6 before dropping the next game, giving the Aggies a 1-0 lead heading into singles play.
The Aggies would sweep through the six singles matches, winning in straight sets, except No. 5. Pacaut dropped the first set to Koehly, 7-6, before forcing a third set with a 6-1 win in the second. Pacaut would eventually lose in the third set in the last completed match, securing UC Davis' 7-0 win.
The Lumberjacks have next week off before returning to the court for three matches in as many days beginning with a road match at UTEP on Feb. 3 in El Paso, Texas.
MEN'S TENNIS
The Northern Arizona men's tennis team heads to Tucson today for their season opener against No. 55 Arizona in search of their first victory over the Wildcats since 1980. The Lumberjacks are just 1-17 all-time versus their in-state rival, including a 7-0 loss to them last season.
"We always look forward to playing UA," Bruno said. "It's always hard to beat them, but we're sure going to try. It'll be interesting to see how we match up against them, where we need to make our adjustments, where we're weak and where we're strong and move forward from there."
Although David Flodberg was the lone graduating senior from last year's team, the Lumberjacks also lost Hugo Ramadier, who transferred to James Madison. Both Ramadier (first team) and Flodberg (second team) were All-Big Sky selections in 2011.
Robin Pezzutto, a 2011 All-Big Sky honorable mention selection, is back for his senior season, headlining seven returning players from last year's 9-12 squad that finished runner-up in the Big Sky for the second consecutive season. Pezzutto posted a 9-10 record at the No. 3 singles position. Among the Lumberjacks other returning players are junior Patrick Schimmelbauer, sophomore Dominic Bermudez and senior Josh Brown, last season's primary No. 2, 5 and 6 singles players.
Doubles specialist senior Ben Lantz is also back for NAU after going 8-4 in doubles matches last season. In addition to juniors Chris Fasulo and Josh Levinson, three newcomers join the program in 2012 in junior transfers Shaun Waters and Robert Martin and the team's lone freshman, Steven Say. Waters, a transfer from Middle Tennessee State, had an impressive NAU debut in the fall, tying for the team-high in singles wins (five) with Bermudez and doubles wins (eight) with Pezzutto.
The match will start at 11 this morning at the Tucson Country Club.
Editor's Note: The NAU Sports Information Department contributed to this story.
