Men's basketball shellacks NAU 95-60

Photo courtesy of UNC Athletics
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Men’s basketball picks up win with 95-60 shellacking of Northern Arizona

By Adam Ide

Bear News Sportswriter

            The University of Northern Colorado men’s basketball team dominated Northern Arizona Thursday, beating the Lumberjacks 95-60 at Bank of Colorado Arena.

            The Bears were once again led by senior guard Andre Spight (25 points), who was one of three Bears in double figures. Freshman guard Jalen Sanders had his best game of the season with 24, and junior guard Jordan Davis had 21.

            “I think the press kind of allowed me to take the ball up and made me a playmaker,” Sanders said. “They were denying our guards and I took advantage of that.”

            Sanders recorded career bests in five different categories, and set career-bests from the field (8-10) and from the line (seven of nine).

            NAU was led by Karl Harris’ 13 points.

            Northern Colorado was close to its season average for steals in the first half, thanks to Spight and Sanders’ two steals each. Sanders finished with four and Spight three.

            The two teams started off slow in the first half, with only 11 points being scored through the first four minutes. The Bears picked up the pace with an 11-4 run and got their lead to as high as 13. Northern Arizona got within five with 90 seconds left in the half.

            UNC led 44-37 going into the locker room.

            Whatever head coach Jeff Linder said to the team worked, as Northern Colorado went on a 16-2 run to begin the second half. The Bears led by 21 with 15 minutes left and never led by less than 20 again, getting as high as 40 with three minutes left.

            “It was one of those games that we had to let our guys know that you can’t look at the record of Northern Arizona,” Linder said after the game. “If you watch them on film, they are a team that is better than what their record is.”

            It was UNC’s largest conference victory of the season.

            Davis was asked about the second-half surge.

            “[Linder] said the same things coming into the game to prepare us,” he said. “He was saying ‘Don’t let the record fool you.’”

            With the win, the Bears improve to 17-10 on the season, 8-6 in Big Sky play. The Lumberjacks fall to 4-22 on the year, and their conference record is just 1-12.