NAU MBB stuffed by Cal State Fullerton 73-56 in Thanksgiving-Eve affair
NAU men's basketball dropped their second-straight game Wednesday night after falling to Cal State Fullerton 73-56 thanks to a poor offensive showing.
It’s feast or famine from beyond the arc this season for the NAU men’s basketball team.
On the night before Thanksgiving, the Lumberjacks didn’t serve up a bountiful feast of well-cooked turkey and homemade mac & cheese. Instead, it was cranberry sauce and pre-boxed mashed potatoes NAU delivered to the home crowd at Rolle Activity Center.
The Lumberjacks may have taken it down a notch in the 3-point shooting, but the offense hasn’t been the problem for the team.
It’s the porous defense that couldn’t make the necessary stops to halt the bleeding when NAU trails.
NAU can keep games close with their 3-point shooting, but after a game where they shot 40 of their 61 shots from beyond the arc, the Lumberjacks needed a reboot to attack the basket more.
However, NAU had no offensive or defensive answers for Cal State Fullerton as the Titans led wire-to-wire in a 73-56 victory over the Lumberjacks.
“I’m not going to question our guys at this point,” NAU men’s basketball head coach Shane Burcar said in an interview with Lumberjack Radio Network. “I thought they battled, but it was 50-30 before you knew it.”
While the Lumberjacks did look inside often, it didn’t help on the defensive side of the ball as NAU continued to struggle with protecting the paint and surrendered a high field-goal percentage once again.
Through the first half, the Lumberjacks trailed single digits, but allowed CSUF to shoot 53.6% from the field along with 16 of their 37 points coming in the paint.
What was just a seven-point game at halftime swiftly ballooned to a 20-point lead for the Titans as the Lumberjacks hit just one of their first 10 shots in the second half and only had three points in the first 10 minutes.
The play on both sides of the ball was so poor for NAU that Burcar had seen enough from the starters and ran a rotation solely with the reserves for the rest of the game.
“We’re down 20, so you got to see something else,” Burcar said.
Among those getting substantial time in the second half were redshirt junior Jay Green, sophomore Ajang Aguek, freshman Jaden Jackson and freshman Carter Mahaney, who entered the transfer portal just weeks before the season began.
There weren’t many bright spots for the Lumberjacks on either side of the ball for the game, but if there was one, it was junior Spencer Roberts, who put up 11 points in the second half to match a best for NAU on the night in terms of scoring. Junior Jalen Cone had 11 as well.
“I really appreciate Spencer Roberts,” Burcar said. “He’s always got great energy and he performed tonight.”
Before the Lumberjacks scored some garbage-time points to make the final tally look much better than the events that transpired on the court, Fullerton went on a 26-5 run over a span of 11:05 that showed the true result of the game.
This was NAU’s worst-shooting night from beyond the arc this season as the team shot 23.8%.
While it wasn’t the worst shooting night from the field this season, the Lumberjacks shot a measly 36.2% from the field.
Cone and Roberts were the only players in double figures for NAU while four players were in double figures for CSUF.
Senior Tray Maddox Jr. had a game-high 14 points with senior E.J. Anosike adding 13 points in the win. Sophomore Dante Maddox Jr. finished with 12 points on 5/7 shooting while junior Vincent Lee had 11 points.
This is the third-straight game that NAU has allowed 50% or better shooting to their opponents as the Titans hit a flat 50% from the field (26/52). The Lumberjacks also committed 14 turnovers that CSUF turned into 15 points. To add the cherry on top for the Lumberjacks’ dreadful night, 34 of Fullerton’s 73 points came from inside the paint.
“It looks terrible, but there’s zero chance of this breaking us,” Burcar said. “It’s a long season, but we can’t have nights like this and they aren’t acceptable. We have to take accountability and that starts with me.”
NAU drops to 3-4 on a current two-game losing streak, but the Lumberjacks will get a much-needed eight days off before hitting the road to begin Big Sky Conference play at Weber State on Dec. 2. It will be five-straight games away from Flagstaff for NAU that will consist of matchups against Weber, Idaho State, South Dakota, San Diego and finally, No. 1-ranked Gonzaga on Dec. 20.
The next time NAU will play inside Rolle Activity Center will be Dec. 30 against Idaho.