ASU BASKETBALL

No. 9 NAU shocks No. 1 Eastern Washington with buzzer-beater in Big Sky Tournament

Mar 5, 2023, 8:26 PM | Updated: 8:29 pm

(NAU Basketball Twitter photo)...

(NAU Basketball Twitter photo)

(NAU Basketball Twitter photo)

The No. 9 seed Northern Arizona Lumberjacks knocked off No. 1 seed Eastern Washington Eagles 81-80 with a buzzer-beater on Sunday in the Big Sky Tournament.

NAU (11-22, 5-13) was down two points with no timeouts and eight seconds remaining when EWU (22-10, 16-2) missed a free throw.

The Lumberjacks got the ball to guard Oakland Fort and he drained a shot from well beyond the three-point line to keep their slim NCAA Tournament hopes alive.

Fort finished the game with 15 points on 6-of-8 shooting, leading all bench scorers in the contest.

NAU had five different scorers in double digits despite only taking eight free throws as a team.

The Lumberjacks started as the second-highest seed in the tournament, knocking off No. 10 Idaho 87-76 in the first round.

With the buzzer-beater win, NAU will face the winner of No. 4 Montana-No. 5 Northern Colorado on Tuesday.

NAU’s lone Big Sky Tournament championship came over Eastern Washington in 2000. They also faced defeat at the hands of the Eagles in 2004.

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