College Basketball: NAU can't hang with BYU in Lumberjack Classic - The Prescott Daily Courier

PRESCOTT VALLEY - Northern Arizona University's men's basketball team would be wise to look on the bright side after succumbing 87-52 to Brigham Young Wednesday night in the inaugural Lumberjack Classic at Tim's Toyota Center.

Playing the likes of the Cougars - an NCAA major program - the mid-major Lumberjacks could eventually benefit from the humbling experience about a month away from their Big Sky Conference opener against Sacramento State Dec. 29 at home.

BYU starting guard Brock Zylstra scored a game-high 23 points on 8-of-10 shooting, including 5-for-6 from 3-point range, and three other Cougars tallied double figures scoring in the rout of NAU.

"It's one of those games where you feel like anything you shoot or anything you throw up is going to go in," Zylstra said afterwards.

The Lumberjacks committed 24 turnovers, including 16 in the first half alone, as they trailed 44-21 at the break. BYU scored 28 of their 87 points off NAU cough-ups.

Six-foot-9 Cougars forward Brandon Davies pitched in with 14 points and 9 rebounds, while fellow standout forward Noah Hartsock had 11 points and 4 boards. Freshman Nate Austin came off the bench to register 11 points and 4 rebounds.

The Cougars' record improved to 5-2 overall, while the Lumberjacks, who were playing a pre-conference game for the second straight season at Tim's, dipped to 2-5 in front of a lively crowd of 3,215.

Although a physical, undersized NAU squad held its own in the paint and on the boards (the Jacks were out-rebounded only 38-32), it struggled the entire night to defend a quicker BYU team from the perimeter.

"We just wanted to come out and win, and play how we play, and I thought we did that for the majority of the game," Davies said. "There are still things here and there that we need to work on, but overall we came out and accomplished what we needed to."

The Jacks, who started three freshmen Wednesday, jumped out to a 4-0 lead within the game's first 2 minutes on buckets from forward Ephraim Ekanem and guard James Douglas before the Cougars assumed control.

BYU went on a crushing 15-0 run, from the 17:50 mark to just under 12 minutes left in the first half, for a 15-4 lead - thanks in part to nine NAU turnovers generated by a smothering Cougars defense.

"We came out very well and scored our first couple possessions, and I didn't expect the drought of 6-1/2 minutes after that," NAU coach Mike Adras said. "It just seemed one turnover after another. I don't even think we were getting shot attempts. It was a bit of nerves more than anything. This will help us in future games."

The Cougars later used a 16-0 run from the 4-minute mark of the first half to the 18-minute juncture of the second half to claim a commanding 50-21 lead.

"We got out to a quick start and then we just started forcing the issue - making bad reads and bad passes," said Jacks point guard Stallon Saldivar, who was held scoreless. "Their physicality kind of got to us. We learned from it. It's a taste of big-time play, so we'll see how we can build on it."

It took a 3-pointer from Jacks guard Colin Gruber, who led NAU in scoring with 13 points, to snap the latter drought with 17:45 remaining.

"We were getting open shots - we just weren't hitting them," Gruber said. "The game plan was to keep the rebounding pretty even, which we did pretty well. We just didn't get on the shooters enough really, and they were knocking down shots."

BYU continued to pour it on from there, even as most of its bench saw action late in the game. The Cougars suffocated the Jacks' guards, which inhibited their ball movement along the perimeter.

"Defensively we played with a lot of energy," Cougars coach Dave Rose said. "We're at our best when we're out in the passing lanes and kind of pressuring passes. We had a little size advantage, and I thought our length would cause them problems if we were really active. Our guys responded really well."

In fact, the Lumberjacks shot only 38 percent from the floor (20-for-53) and 29 percent from 3-point range (5-for-17), while the Cougars hit a blistering 52 percent from the field (34-for-66) and 40 percent from beyond the arc (10-for-25).

"The guards were hitting open shots," Davies said. "When I was getting some pressure down low, it was nice to be able to kick it out to guys and hit shots. Our guys were hot tonight."

NAU will next head to Tucson Saturday to face Arizona. Tip-off is at 4:30 p.m.

Meanwhile, BYU travels to Salt Lake City Saturday to battle Oregon at 3 p.m.