The Northern Arizona men’s basketball team lost both away games last week in the northwest, playing games at Portland State and Eastern Washington. But NAU lost more than just ground in the Big Sky’s race to the conference tournament. 

In the first half against Eastern Washington on Feb. 7, senior guard Josh Wilson broke his right ankle, sidelining him for the rest of the season and ultimately ending his college basketball career.

“You can’t replace a guy like Wilson,” said sophomore forward Shane Johanssen. “It’s tough to deal with, but we have to pick things up while he’s out.”

NAU’s Matt Johnson was terminated from the men’s basketball team for violation of team rules. - Ryan Kennedy/ The Lumberjack

The rest of the team feels for Wilson, as the game at Eastern would be the last of his collegiate career.

“He’s the senior leader,” said sophomore guard Cameron Jones.  “He’s a scorer and a great passer, and he picks up the slack for all of us. It’s going to be tough down the stretch without our leader.”

On Jan. 4, Wilson tied his career high scoring mark with 25 points in a four-overtime thriller against Portland State.

Wilson averaged 8.9 points and 5.5 assists per game in his career at NAU as a four-year starting point guard. On Jan. 24 against Weber State, he scored his 1000th point as a Lumberjack, becoming just the 24th player to do so at NAU.

Before the game at Eastern, senior guards Matt Johnson and Jermaine Calvin were suspended and terminated from the men’s basketball roster due to undisclosed violations of team rules.

Johnson was second on the team in scoring (11.6 ppg), assists (2.7 apg) and 3-point percentage (44.6) this season.

Calvin, who played at Southern Idaho, St. Bonaventure and Utah prior to NAU, averaged only 10.6 minutes per game, including 1.5 assists and points per game.

Without three senior guards, who played a combined 68 minutes per game, the Lumberjacks will be severely short-handed on the bench for the remainder of the season.

“We are going to have to focus on pacing our guys more this week,” said head coach Mike Adras. “We don’t have as many bodies as we did before. It’s a situation now where I don’t think we are that far off of where we need to be, and we can get things done with the guys we have.”

On Feb. 5, NAU lost at Portland State 78-66, their biggest loss so far in conference play and their only conference loss by 10 or more points. 

Jones led the way for the Lumberjacks with 15 points.

NAU then traveled north to Cheney, Wash., to take on the Eastern Washington Eagles in a matchup of two teams fighting for their playoff lives. The biggest lead for either team throughout the game was four points, which ultimately was the difference in the final score, 54-50, in favor of EWU. The loss was NAU’s sixth conference loss by six or fewer points.

Jones lead NAU’s scorers once again with 11 points. He now has a team-high 12.5 points per game this season.

The Lumberjacks, who now sit at the eighth spot in the conference standings, take on Montana State tonight (Feb. 12) for their first of three straight home games.

“I feel good about this week,” Jones said. “We just have to listen to what coach Adras says and pick up a few key wins. We feel all our games from here on out are definitely winnable, even in our current situation.”