The Northern Arizona Lumberjacks men's basketball team (8-4) grabbed a victory over Southern Utah (8-6) on Saturday afternoon, snapping the Thunderbirds' undefeated home streak with an 83-75 comeback win in Cedar City, Utah.
"We're all feeling really good right now. The second half we played a lot better defensively, we met our goal on getting stops, and the truth is we have such a competitive group in there and they stepped up to the challenge," Lumberjacks head coach Shane Burcar said.
Jayden Jackson opened the scoring for the Lumberjacks with three-point play, a layup and a mid-range jumper to make it 7-all ahead of the first media timeout.
The Lumberjacks trailed 28-23 at an early media timeout, with Jackson sending Northern Arizona into it following his fourth field goal of the game. Southern Utah used a scoring burst to push the lead to 15, but Northern Arizona quickly shaved it to eight as Trent McLaughlin sunk his second 3-pointer of the game and Oakland Fort followed up with a midrange jumper.
A 15-3 run for Northern Arizona to close out the final four minutes of the first half, highlighted by a buzzer-beating 3-pointer from McLaughlin, cut the lead to three at halftime. Mclaughlin led all scorers with 15 first-half points and Carson Towt had already recorded a double-double with 12 points and 10 rebounds.
Two early turnovers to start the second half for Southern Utah led to Towt tying up the score at 45 with a layup plus the foul shot. Northern Arizona found its first lead of the game with 18:45 to go when McLaughlin connected with Towt inside the paint for the layup.
An 8-0 run over a two-minute span for Northern Arizona forced Southern Utah into a timeout as Jackson's 3 from the left side put the Lumberjacks up 60-55. Northern Arizona took a 10-point lead with 7:09 to play as McLaughlin made a layup off a pass from Towt.
McLaughlin joined the 1,000-point club at Northern Arizona, reaching the mark in his 80th game as he led all scorers with 26 total in the victory.
"That's a guy who is all about winning. He works hard, and I couldn't be happier for him," Burcar said.
Jackson and Towt closely followed McLaughlin with 23 and 21 points, respectively. Towt finished with 17 rebounds, marking his fifth straight game in double-digit rebounding. McLaughlin added a team-high seven assists and four steals.
Northern Arizona聽will return to Flagstaff for one final nonconference matchup when it hosts Benedictine Mesa on Dec. 30 in the Walkup Skydome.
PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Grabbing his eighth double-double in 12 contests this season, Towt was named the Big Sky Conference Player of the Week, marking his first honor of the season.
Towt became the leading rebounder (12.2 per game) in Division I hoops after lifting the Lumberjacks to a comeback victory at Southern Utah. Towt's 21 points against the Thunderbirds was accompanied by 17 rebounds, five assists and two steals while playing 38 minutes. In helping Northern Arizona improve to its best start since 2010 with an 8-4 record, Towt shot 47.3% from the field in the away contest.
The Gilbert native currently ranks third in the country with eight double-doubles. Towt's 801 career rebounds has him fourth all-time at Northern Arizona. Towt is currently 83 points shy of hitting the 1,000-point mark during his Northern Arizona career.