University of Northern Colorado Athletics
Thursday, February 25
Greeley, CO
7:00 p.m.
University of Northern Colorado
9-18 (6-9BSC)
72
vs
67
Sacramento State
11-15 (4-11BSC)
1
2
F
Sacramento State
42
25
67
Northern Colorado
36
36
72
Team Stats
SAC
UNCO
FG%
.453
.420
3FG%
.350
.375
FT%
.800
.774
RB
31
38
TO
14
11
STL
3
6
Game Leaders
Scoring
Pts
15
FGM
4
3FGM
1
FTM
6
Pts
11
FGM
2
3FGM
2
FTM
5
Pts
11
FGM
4
3FGM
2
FTM
1
Pts
11
FGM
2
3FGM
0
FTM
7
Players Mentioned
G
/ Men's BasketballG
/ Men's BasketballG
/ Men's BasketballF
/ Men's Basketball
G
/ Men's BasketballPhoto by: Dean Popejoy
Late Push Gives @unco_mbb The Win Over Sacramento State 73-67
2/25/2016 10:37:00 PM | Men's Basketball
PDF Box Score
GREELEY, Colo. – Northern Colorado (9-18, 6-9) trailed by as many as 12 points to Sacramento State (11-15, 4-11) on Thursday night, but a late second half effort lifted the Bears to a 72-67 win over the Hornets inside Bank of Colorado Arena.
UNC got behind late in the first half after a 6-0 run by Sac State to trail, 42-30 with 2:31 to play until intermission. The Bears responded with six straight points of their own to cut the deficit to 42-36 heading into the locker room.
The home team trailed for 16 of the 20 minutes in the second half before taking its first lead of the half (62-61) off a pair of freshman guard, Jordan Davis free throws with 4:07 to play.
Davis finished with a team-high 15 points on 4-of-8 (50.0%) shooting, with six of those points from the charity stripe. He also added four assists to his stat line.
"I think where they (the players) showed patience was staying in there when we were struggling offensively," Head Coach B.J. Hill said about the win. "To be down, 37 to 38 minutes of the game and still have the stick–to–itiveness to make a play speaks a lot about their growth and their mental toughness. I don't think we would have done that in the past."
The Hornets answered at the opposite end of the court off a Cody Demps jumper to put them back up by one (63-62).
Redshirt sophomore forward, Jeremy Verhagen came through in the clutch, knocking down his second three of the night to make it a two point game, 65-63 in favore of the Bears with 1:23 remaining on the clock.
Verhagen notched double figures for the second straight game, scoring 11 points and adding seven rebounds and two blocks.
Junior guards, Anthony Johnson and Dallas Anglin were the other two UNC players to finish in double digits with 11 points apiece. Johnson also tallied four rebounds and two assists in the win, while seven of Anglin's 11 points were made at the free throw line.
Another layup from Demps once again tied the game, but junior guard, Jordan Wilson sank a three to put the Bears back on top, 68-65 with 0:39 ticks to go.
Despite the go-ahead trey, Wilson had a relatively quiet night, scoring just seven points in the five point victory.
"These guys earned this win tonight by how they came to practice and the energy they came to practice with on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday," Hill added. "We haven't seen that for a while and they deserve all the credit for that because they're the ones that have to dig deep in February when it's not easy to do that and just find it – to their credit, they did that this week and they deserved the win."
Northern Colorado was able to close the game out at the free throw line with four straight makes from Davis and Johnson to snap the Bears five game losing streak.
UNC finished the game 21-of-50 (42.0%) from the floor and 6-of-16 (37.5%) from beyond the arc. Sac State outshot the Bears, ending the game 24-of-53 (45.3%) on field goals and 7-of-20 (35.0%) from three point land.
"They're (Portland State) just a different style of play – they're a lot looser and extremely talented and play extremely free," Hill said of the team's next opponent. "Tonight we pushed it and Saturday we'll want to push it too, but the objective will be different for us offensively."
Northern Colorado ends its regular season home games this Saturday, Feb. 27 against Portland State. Tip against the Vikings is set for 7:00 p.m.
Stats of the Game:
- Redshirt sophomore forward, Jeremy Verhagen finished the night 2-of-3 from downtown with his second make from beyond the arc pushing the Bears to a two point lead (65-63) with just 1:23 to play.
- UNC once again won the rebound battle, outboarding the Hornets 38-31.
- Northern Colorado scored 12 points off of 14 Sacramento State turnovers in the win.
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