Graves, Sacramento St. beat NAU 72-60 in Big Sky tourney

BOISE, Idaho (AP) — Marcus Graves hit a career-high six 3-pointers and finished with 27 points and four steals to help Sacramento State beat Northern Arizona 72-60 on Wednesday in the first round of the Big Sky Conference tournament.

The No. 9 seed Hornets will play top-seeded Montana, which swept the regular-season series against Sacramento State, in Thursday’s quarterfinals.

Izayah Mauriohooho-Le’afa added 17 points, including a career-high tying five 3s, and Joshua Patton scored 12 for Sacramento State (15-15).

Mauriohooho-Le’afa scored eight points, including two 3-pointers, during a 10-0 run that made it 15-8 and the Hornets led the rest of the way. NAU twice cut its deficit to five points before Sacramento State scored 13 of the final 16 first-half points to take a 15-point lead into the break. Graves had 10 points during that stretch and the Lumberjacks trailed by double figures throughout the second half.

Bernie Andre had 19 points and 12 rebounds for Northern Arizona (10-21).

The Hornets shot 53 percent from the field, including a season-high 60 percent (12 of 20) from 3-point range, and scored 28 points off 18 NAU turnovers.