Northern Arizona men鈥檚 basketball (17-14, 8-10 Big Sky) is preparing for the conference tournament in Boise, Idaho, where it will take on Eastern Washington (10-21, 6-12 Big Sky) on Saturday in Idaho Central Arena.
The seventh-seeded Lumberjacks swept the No. 8-seeded Eagles this season. On Feb. 22, the Lumberjacks won, 87-67, in Flagstaff, and on Jan. 23 they topped them 70-61 in Cheney, Washington.
This will be the first meeting back in Boise since 2023, where No. 9-seeded Northern Arizona knocked top-seeded Eastern Washington out with an 81-80 upset.
Northern Arizona's 17 wins this season marks the most under head coach Shane Burcar.
Burcar is headed into the tournament as a finalist for the 2024-25 Skip Prosser Man of the Year award, which honors those who achieve success on the court and display moral integrity.
Northern Arizona's Carson Towt is coming off a big final week of the regular season, recording four steals, 14 rebounds and nine points in Saturday's loss to Northern Colorado. On Monday, shot 100% from the field on 11 attempts. He recorded a career-high 24 points and recorded his 19th double-double of the season with 12 rebounds.
Towt leads the nation at 12 rebounds per game, while sitting five shy of breaking Northern Arizona's all-time record -- set at 1,044 by Dan Buttrum in 1962.
Trent McLaughlin hit 10 3-pointers combined in the Lumberjacks' last three games. He shot 55.6% from beyond the arc for a total of 79 points in that span. McLaughlin has added 110 rebounds, 108 assists, and 55 steals to his resume this season, leading the Big Sky with 686 total points. He is one of two players in the league to record 600-plus points this season.
Jayden Jackson averaged 14 points per game through the Lumberjacks' last three meetings. He shot 55.6% from the field on 27 attempts. Jackson leads the team in assists, averaging 3.6 a night. Ryan Abelman has stepped up for Northern Arizona and started in the last three games. He posted seven 3s, shooting 58.3% from beyond the arc and averaged 30.7 minutes per game.
Eastern Washington is heading into the tournament on a five-game losing streak. The Eagles shot 45.9% from the field through the season and 29.1% from beyond the arc in their last three games. Eastern Washington鈥檚 Andrew Cook averages 16 points per game, followed by 13.6 from Mason Williams and 10.8 from Nic McClain.
Men鈥檚 tennis
Northern Arizona (6-5, 1-0 Big Sky) dropped a match against St. John鈥檚, 4-3, on Thursday in Tucson.
Doubles partners Piotr Galus and Dani Torres won the Lumberjacks' lone doubles match of the day, picking up a 6-3 victory at the No. 2 spot. Jakub Prachar and Jakub Volesky fell to St. John's No. 1 pairing, and Semen Agynskyy and Takumi Katsuda fell at the No. 3.
At the top of the singles lineup, Torres earned a 6-4, 6-2 victory over Max Amling. Agynskyy was the only other Lumberjack to pick up a straight-set victory, earning a 6-4, 6-2 finish at the No. 5 court. Takumi Katsuda battled his way through a 6-1, 3-6, 7-5 victory at No. 6 over Ryota Kaneda.
Northern Arizona traveled to Arizona on Friday.
Football
James Foran, director of technology at Northern Arizona University, has been named the FCS/At-Large Video Coordinator of the Year for the second consecutive season, announced by the Collegiate Sports Video Association in February.
This is the third FCS/At-Large Video Coordinator of the Year award for Foran, who was also honored in the 2014-15 and 2023-24 seasons.
Foran is entering his 15th season leading the video efforts for Northern Arizona's football program. He and his staff are responsible for all technology needs, including film acquisition of practices, games and opponents, and managing the cloud-based Thundercloud video networks used by coaches and players to watch film and prepare for competition.
In 2024, he oversaw the implementation of the GameStrat system for the viewing of in-game video by the football program.
Outside of the football program, Foran also trains and supervises a staff of students that shoot all football practices and games, men's and women's basketball home games and home soccer matches.