Bobcats Fall to Lumberjacks
1/31/2004 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
The script was similar. So was the ending.
Montana State dug itself into and out of an early hole, staged a furious second half rally, and in the end didn’t have enough fire power in a 63-57 loss at Northern Arizona on Saturday.
While the result was the same as in a close loss at Sacramento State on Thursday, Bobcat coach Mick Durham found some positive similarities to latch onto. “I thought we competed,” said Durham. “We somewhat got the game we wanted in the second half. Neither team was able to make a basket.”
Bobcat guard Jason Erickson, who had a game-high 19 points, said the game’s essence wasn’t a surprise. “This was classic NAU and classic MSU basketball,” Erickson said. “Both teams pride themselves on playing defense tough, and that’s what we saw tonight.”
NAU jumped out to an early nine-point lead, then used a 9-2 run to go ahead 32-20 with 4:15 to play in the first half. The ‘Cats narrowed the margin to eight to close the half, then after a Kelly Golob basket to start the second half went on a 9-0 run to set the stage for a barnburner.
After Josh Barsh scored his only points of the night on a three-pointer with 14:14 to play to tie the game at 40, Jason Erickson hit a layup with 11:29 to play to give MSU a 42-40 lead. NAU then held the Bobcats scoreless for 6:56, and in that time bolted to a 49-42 lead. But the Bobcats weren’t finished.
“We fought through that, and I thought we had a couple of great opportunities midway through the second half, but we had a tough time finishing fast breaks. NAU was probably disappointed that they couldn’t break it open then, too.”
An Aaron Bond layup gave the Lumberjacks a 49-42 lead, but the Bobcats held NAU scoreless for five minutes, and in that time the Bobcats climbed back to within a point. With 2:08 to play, Erickson hit a layup to tie the score, but Bond hit a short jumper and after Erickson missed a free throw Adrian Hayes converted a pair of charity tosses to seal NAU’s win.
NAU’s twin offensive terrors, Bond and Golob, combined for 32 points, but MSU was able to stay in the game by holding them to a combined 11-for-35 from the field. “Early on, we couldn’t find anyone to guard Bond,” Durham said. “We finally put Josh Barsh on him, and Josh did a good job.” Bond scored only four of his 15 points in the second half, but finished with his first double-double, getting 15 points and 12 rebounds.
In fact, Montana State -- the Big Sky’s best defensive team, as witnessed by field goal defense, scoring defense, and turnovers forced -- limited NAU to just 33% from the field, and forced 18 Lumberjack turnovers. But NAU outrebounded the ‘Cats 50-to-41, and in visiting the free throw line eight times more than MSU scored seven extra points from the stripe.
Montana State dug itself into and out of an early hole, staged a furious second half rally, and in the end didn’t have enough fire power in a 63-57 loss at Northern Arizona on Saturday.
While the result was the same as in a close loss at Sacramento State on Thursday, Bobcat coach Mick Durham found some positive similarities to latch onto. “I thought we competed,” said Durham. “We somewhat got the game we wanted in the second half. Neither team was able to make a basket.”
Bobcat guard Jason Erickson, who had a game-high 19 points, said the game’s essence wasn’t a surprise. “This was classic NAU and classic MSU basketball,” Erickson said. “Both teams pride themselves on playing defense tough, and that’s what we saw tonight.”
NAU jumped out to an early nine-point lead, then used a 9-2 run to go ahead 32-20 with 4:15 to play in the first half. The ‘Cats narrowed the margin to eight to close the half, then after a Kelly Golob basket to start the second half went on a 9-0 run to set the stage for a barnburner.
After Josh Barsh scored his only points of the night on a three-pointer with 14:14 to play to tie the game at 40, Jason Erickson hit a layup with 11:29 to play to give MSU a 42-40 lead. NAU then held the Bobcats scoreless for 6:56, and in that time bolted to a 49-42 lead. But the Bobcats weren’t finished.
“We fought through that, and I thought we had a couple of great opportunities midway through the second half, but we had a tough time finishing fast breaks. NAU was probably disappointed that they couldn’t break it open then, too.”
An Aaron Bond layup gave the Lumberjacks a 49-42 lead, but the Bobcats held NAU scoreless for five minutes, and in that time the Bobcats climbed back to within a point. With 2:08 to play, Erickson hit a layup to tie the score, but Bond hit a short jumper and after Erickson missed a free throw Adrian Hayes converted a pair of charity tosses to seal NAU’s win.
NAU’s twin offensive terrors, Bond and Golob, combined for 32 points, but MSU was able to stay in the game by holding them to a combined 11-for-35 from the field. “Early on, we couldn’t find anyone to guard Bond,” Durham said. “We finally put Josh Barsh on him, and Josh did a good job.” Bond scored only four of his 15 points in the second half, but finished with his first double-double, getting 15 points and 12 rebounds.
In fact, Montana State -- the Big Sky’s best defensive team, as witnessed by field goal defense, scoring defense, and turnovers forced -- limited NAU to just 33% from the field, and forced 18 Lumberjack turnovers. But NAU outrebounded the ‘Cats 50-to-41, and in visiting the free throw line eight times more than MSU scored seven extra points from the stripe.
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