NAU

Big Sky Basketball Preview: 08-09

CHN — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 21:16:03 -0500

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Conference Rank: 23rd

All-BIG SKY Team
Pos.	Player	Team	Yr.

G	Jeremiah Dominguez	Portland St	Sr
G	Josh Wilson	NAU	Sr
F	Phil Nelson	Portland St	So
F	Jabril Banks	No. Colorado	Sr
F	Jordan Hasquet	Montana	Sr
CHN Award Winners		Returning Leaders
none		Points: Jeremiah Dominguez 14.2 Rebounds: Jordan Hasquet 7.2 Assists: Josh Wilson 5.4

BIG SKY Standings
Nat'l	Team	League	Tourney

112	Montana	Big Sky	1	NCAA
149	Portland State**	Big Sky	2
181	Northern Arizona	Big Sky	3
203	Weber State	Big Sky	4
243	Idaho State	Big Sky	5
265	Eastern Wash	Big Sky	6
279	Northern Colorado	Big Sky	7
308	Montana State	Big Sky	8
327	Sacramento St	Big Sky	9

*Click on links for full Top 144 team preview

** returning conference champion

Poll: Who Do You Think Will Win the Big Sky?

Other BIG SKY Content

Conference Media Poll

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Rise & Fall: Big Sky

Daily Conference Poll: Who Will Win the Big Sky?

Shawn Siegel — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 09:41:14 -0400

Northern Arizona 91 - Eastern Washington 80

Press Release — Thu, 18 Jan 2007 23:36:44 -0500

Stephen Sir continued his hot shooting as he and his Northern Arizona teammates made 64 percent of their shots in the second half to pull away from Eastern Washington 91-80 Thursday (Jan. 18) in a Big Sky Conference men’s basketball game at Reese Court in Cheney, Wash.

Sir made 7-of-10 three-pointers en route to finishing with a game-high 25 points. Eastern’s Rodney Stuckey had 24 points, eight rebounds and five assists, but made only 10-of-21 shots overall. He missed all four of his three-point attempts and five free throws.

Eastern fell to 3-4 in the Big Sky and 9-10 overall as EWU dropped its second league home game in three tries. Northern Arizona, the preseason pick by coaches to win the league title, improved to 5-2 in the Big Sky and 10-8 overall.

"Tonight's loss stings very bad,” said Eagle head coach Mike Burns. “You don't get these games back. You can rationalize splitting games on the road, but you can't rationalize splitting games at home."

Northern Arizona finished 12-of-20 from three-point range, as Sir has now made 26 of his last 34 treys. Eastern was just 2-of-14 from the three-point stripe. The Eagles also made only 8-of-22 free throws, including just 4-of-9 by Stuckey, the Big Sky’s leader entering the game at 86.3 percent.

With Sir scoring 14 points after halftime -- with four three-pointers -- NAU opened up a seven-point lead less than five minutes into the second half. Eastern cut the margin to one at the 11:01 mark, but NAU used an 8-0 run to take command and led by as many as 13.

Less than two weeks ago on Jan. 6, the Eagles lost at Northern Arizona 109-101. Eastern allowed NAU to make 61 percent of its shots as Tyrone Bazy (32) and Sir (22) combined for 54 points. Sir was this week’s Big Sky co-Player of the Week.

“We just made a couple of mental errors and they got things going,” said Burns. “Sir has been on fire the last three weeks. And when we go 2-of-14 from three and they go 12-of-20, combined with our poor free throw shooting, it is too much to overcome."

Eastern managed to out-rebound the Lumberjacks 34-30 and had 14 turnovers to NAU’s 10. Eastern actually shot better than NAU, making 56.5 percent for its fourth-best shooting percentage of the season. The Lumberjacks finished at 54.1 percent.

"Tonight at times our effort was very good -- our guys were flying to the ball and doing some good things,” said Burns. “We out-rebounded NAU and those are effort things.”

Paul Butorac added 16 points, six rebounds and two blocked shots for the Eagles as he made 7-of-10 shots from the field. Kellen Williams chipped in 10 points on 5-of-7 shooting.

Ryan McCurdy made 8-of-10 shots and finished with 18 points and eight rebounds. Bazy came off the bench to finish with 19 points and five assists, and Josh Wilson had a career-high 14 assists.

The first half featured nine ties and three lead changes as NAU led 40-38 at intermission. Eastern, thanks to 58 percent shooting in the first half, led by as many as six.

"Some things that stand out to me after this game are that Stephen Sir was 7-10 and two of those specifically were wide open shots in the second half that stung,” said Burns. “You combine that with going 8-of-22 at the free throw line and missing the first shots in the one-and-one bonus opportunities in a home game, you are not going to win. Those extra 14 points we could have capitalized on at the foul line would have helped significantly tonight."

"Our free throws haven't had as big of a negative impact in games as they were tonight,” he added. “At Portland State we shot much better at the line (22-of-28). If we could have done that tonight it would have helped significantly."

"NAU did a good job of getting the ball to Ryan McCurdy deep in the post, and when he gets down there he usually scores, Tyrone Bazy was 2-of-2 from three and he is a 23 percent three-point shooter. We were more worried about his penetration than we were about his three-point shooting. We knew Sir and (Nathan) Geiser could shoot the ball well. We let them get their feet set and they were able to make those shots."

Eastern returns to action Saturday (Jan. 20) when it hosts Northern Colorado. Two weeks ago on Jan. 4 in Greeley, Colo., Eastern edged the Bears 88-87 as Stuckey scored 25 points and had 10 assists.

Northern Colorado is 1-6 in the Big Sky and 3-16 overall after falling at Portland State 86-70 on Thursday. Eastern defeated the same PSU team 88-70 in Portland last Saturday (Jan. 13).

"These conference games are starting to become must wins,” said Burns. “We have to come back Saturday night against a Northern Colorado team that is far better than their record indicates -- an example being that UNC beat NAU last Thursday."

"We need to take better care of the basketball against UNC than we did tonight. We need to come out with better defensive intensity, and, obviously, we need to make our free throws."

Big Sky Conference Preview

CHN — Wed, 01 Nov 2006 12:32:55 -0500

Conference Previews | Top 144 | 06-07 Preview Home

Big Sky Preview

Conference Rank: 16th

Conference Page

All-Conference

Player of the Year - Rodney Stuckey, EWU, G

David Schroeder, Idaho St, G

Alex Bausley, Sacramento St, F

Ruben Boykin, NAU, F

Andrew Strait, Montana, F/C

Nat'l	Team (Click for Preview)	Conf	Tourney
99	Northern Arizona	1	NCAA
128	Eastern Washington	2
144	Montana	3
172	Portland State	4
194	Sacramento St	5
215	Weber State	6
246	Idaho State	7
279	Montana State	8
321	Northern Colorado	9

Preseason Head Coach Interviews:

Brad Huse - Montana State

Other Big Sky Articles

Big Sky Preseason Coaches & Media Poll

Big Sky Preseason Coaches/Media Poll

Press Release — Wed, 25 Oct 2006 16:38:14 -0400

In very close balloting, Northern Arizona (21-11, 12-2 last season) was picked first in the coaches poll by just one point over Montana (24-7, 10-4). Meanwhile, the Grizzlies were picked first in the media poll by just one point over the Lumberjacks. They were followed by consensus third, fourth and fifth teams, Eastern Washington (15-15, 9-5), Portland State (12-16, 5-9) and Sacramento State (15-15, 5-9).

The 2006-07 Big Sky season will include the addition of new conference member Northern Colorado. UNC, Montana State, Idaho State and Weber State – picked in various order sixth through ninth in the polls – all have new head coaches this season. Northern Colorado will play a full Big Sky schedule, but because of NCAA reclassification requirements, will not be eligible for the regular-season title, or a trip to the postseason.

Coaches’ Poll
School (First-place votes) Points
1. Northern Arizona (4) 59
2. Montana (4) 58
3. Eastern Washington (1) 54
4. Portland State 41
5. Sacramento State 37
6. Weber State 27
7. Idaho State 22
8. Montana State 17
9. Northern Colorado 8

Media Poll
School (First-place votes) Points
1. Montana (9) 233
2. Northern Arizona (13) 232
3. Eastern Washington (7) 222
4. Portland State 149
5. Sacramento State 143
6. Montana State 109
7. Weber State 95
8. Idaho State 93
9. Northern Colorado 30

2006-07 Preview: #100 NAU

Joel Welser — Mon, 02 Oct 2006 16:42:13 -0400

Last year's regular season champs are ready to win the Big Sky Tournament.