Miles Hits School Record 10 Three-Pointers in Win Over NAU

Saturday, January 7

Greeley, CO

7:00 p.m.

University of Northern Colorado

7-8, 3-1BSC

Northern Arizona University

3-13, 0-3BSC

Northern Arizona

Northern Colorado

1/7/2017 10:39:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

By: Kobee Stalder, UNCBears.com

Box Score

GREELEY, Colo. – Junior guard, DJ Miles cashed a UNC Division I record 10 three-pointers en route to a 36-point performance in Northern Colorado's (7-8, 3-1 Big Sky) 83-79 win over Northern Arizona (3-13, 0-3 Big Sky) on Saturday night.

How It Happened:
The Bears jumped out to a double-digit lead just seven minutes into the game after a 13-0 run to put UNC in control, 17-7. During the rally, Miles connected on his first two-three pointers of the ball game.

Just a possession later, Northern Colorado adventured on another run, this one of the 10-0 fashion to take one of its largest lead of the game over the Lumberjacks at 27-10 with 11:40 remaining in the half.

NAU did not go quietly into the night after trailing by as many as eighteen in the game. The 'Jacks methodically chipped away at their deficit and got it down to just seven (37-30) with less than a minute remaining until the break.

Miles fourth trey of the half with :31 to go provided some extra padding as Northern Colorado walked off with a 40-30 advantage at the intermission.

UNC got back-to-back buckets from sophomore guard, Jordan Davis to open the second half and then it was all Miles.

Miles scored the next 15 points for the team, all coming from downtown, to keep the scoreboard tilted in favor of the Bears at 62-50.

With 10 minutes left to play, Northern Arizona went to work behind Marcus DeBerry and Mike Green. The duo combined for 34 points in the second half and whittled Northern Colorado's lead down to just three (72-69) with :40 seconds remaining in the game.

After two missed free throws by UNC, NAU grabbed the rebound with :21 seconds to play and a chance to tie the game. The Lumberjacks lost the ball out of bounds on the ensuing possession and turned it over to UNC, and the Bears were able to seal the game at the free throw line.

Davis was the only other Bear to finish in double figures on the night with 17 points. He also added six rebounds and four assists.

Green was the top scorer for the Lumberjacks scoring 31 points, with 18 of those coming from three-point land.

Game Changer:
DJ Miles was unconscious throughout most the game, scoring 36 points and setting a UNC Division I program record, 10 made threes. Miles' was 58% from beyond the arc, going 10-of-17.

Key Stat:
Northern Colorado once again won the rebounding battle. The Bears out-rebounded Northern Arizona 45-38, including a 15-6 margin on the offensive end.

In Their Words:
Head Coach, Jeff Linder:
"I thought our guys from the very start learned from the Southern Utah game and came out with great energy, great focus and made all the little plays that we talked about. They showed why they are a team that's 3-1 right now. There were a lot of people that wouldn't have thought this team would be 3-1 to start conference."

"Give credit to DJ [Miles] and our guys. He was hot and they kept finding him. We have a bunch of special plays when guys are hot to keep them going and they did a great job of executing and DJ stepped up."

Junior guard, DJ Miles
"I knew I was in a groove. After I hit my first two threes, I just knew I wasn't going to miss that many. My teammates did a great job of getting me good looks and finding me when I was open, so I didn't want to let them down."

Notables:
- UNC shot 44.6% from the field, going 25-of-56 and ended 39.1% from three-point range, finishing 13-of-33. It was the second-best three-point percentage the team has finished with this year.
- Freshman forward, Kai Edwards led the team in rebounding, hauling in eight boards. Edwards has now notched eight or more rebounds in the past four out of five contests.
- The Bears limited themselves to 12 turnovers again on Saturday night. This is back-to-back games with 12 turnovers, as they recorded no less than 16 in the previous five games.
- Northern Colorado went to the free throw line a season-high 35 times, but converted on just 20 of those. They did however, begin the game 12-of-12 from the charity stripe.
- UNC has now won three of its last four games against NAU and improves to 16-10 in the all-time series.

Up Next:
Northern Colorado will now take its 3-1 Big Sky record on the road to Montana. The Bears will face Montana (8-9, 3-1 Big Sky) on Thursday, Jan. 12 and then make the short trip to take on Montana State (6-11, 1-3 Big Sky) on Saturday, Jan. 14.