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

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.

THERE ARE NO WORDS.

THERE ARE NO WORDS. @NAUBasketball MOVES ON. pic.twitter.com/rOQXbGPrq6

— Big Sky Conference (@BigSkyConf) March 6, 2023

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.