Northern Arizona senior forward Durrell Norman was on the bench during Saturday's Big Sky Conference game against Portland State, but junior Ephraim Ekanem and freshman Gaellan Bewernick took it upon themselves to make sure he wasn't missed.

Bewernick had a double-double (12 points and 10 rebounds) in his best game of the season and Ekanem pounded the inside for 14 points, but it wasn't enough as NAU dropped its 11th-straight and fourth in seven days, 76-65 the Vikings.

Portland State (11-12 overall and 5-6 BSC) used a 21-6 run to end the first half and put the game just out of the Lumberjacks' reach.

NAU (5-19, 1-11 BSC) could only keep the Vikings within 10 points for most of the second half, during which the Jacks gave a season-high crowd of 1,104 at the Rolle Activity Center glimpses of good Lumberjack basketball.

"It was a tough game but we all played hard and we all stepped up," Bewernick said. "We tried to come back but it wasn't good enough."

NAU rallied a couple of different times with steals off its press that lead to transition layups, but Portland State adjusted well and got a few wide-open baskets of its own.

"We knew we had to come out and fight in the second half so we pressed and got a couple steals and layups, but things didn't always go our way," Bewernick said.

James Douglas and Michael Dunn -- who scored 12 and 11 points, respectively -- led a quicker pace for NAU in the second half, but head coach Dave Brown said the effort, as good as it was, wasn't enough to overcome the team's first-half mistakes.

"We battled and we did some good things, we just had mental lapses in the first half," Brown said. "We got a hard effort again, and not only is the team going for a win, but they're also trying to show people that they can play tough basketball."

Ekanem and Bewernick did that by leading NAU's inside attack -- the Lumberjacks scored 36 points in the paint and out-rebounded PSU 35-29 -- and showed off their steadily improving skills.

"Durrell is a great rebounder, so (without him) Gaellan and I had to step up on the boards, and Gaellan had a great game," Ekanem said. "We're improving and just want to keep on working.

"We want to come out and prove the doubters wrong and do the best we can," he added.

Ekanem went 6-for-14 from the floor and struggled against a pair of PSU behemoths -- freshman Brandon Cataldo (6-feet, 10-inches, 290 pounds) and senior Nate Lozeau (6-10, 270) -- in the paint, and Brown said he wasn't as efficient as he's been.

"We went to Ephraim with our offense but he wasn't as on with his shots and that hurt us," Brown said, "but overall the players have improved in the paint."

Ekanem said he's going to try to put the game behind him and move on.

"You have to keep your confidence up and keep your head up, then you get in the gym the next day and keep working to get better," he said.

As for Bewernick, he's hoping the team's recent improvement in the paint gets noticed and that he and his teammates continue to improve.

"We feel like no one respects us so we feel like it's on us to step up and make ourselves known (in the paint)," he said. "Now that Durrell is out, it's a lot more on me and Ephraim."

Bill Harris can be reached at bharris@azdailysun.com, or 556-2251