Jacks earn back-to-back wins on road, even record
HSU tops Simpson to earn 3-3 record
Humboldt State’s men’s basketball closed out its six-game road schedule with its second consecutive win over Simpson University, with an 82-58 final score.
The Lumberjacks saw another spirited offensive outing Wednesday night, with five players putting up double-digit scoring. Junior-year guard AJ Sims recorded HSU’s game high 18 points. Brazilian-born guard Victor Mijas trailed by a point, contributing 17 points to the Green and Gold’s cause. Noah Viera, Caleb Giordano and Keshawn Hall rounded out the night’s double-digit honors, with 13, 12 and 10 points respectively.
HSU made good use of their free throws, netting 16 out of 21 throws. Mijas, Sims and Viera put their combined 12 throws through the hoop, for a 100 percent efficacy rate.
From beyond the threepoint line, Mijas scored in four of his seven attempts while Giordano went three for five. Keshawn Hall connected twice on two attempts.
On defense, the Jacks held down their opponents to force 20 turnovers over the course of the game and pushed the Red Hawks’ shooting rate down to 36.4 percent. Simpson held a short lived six-point lead with 12 minutes left of play in the first half, but could not keep such an advantage as the game went on.
The second win in a row to sweep Simpson comes after both teams faced off on Tuesday night, with Humboldt State breaking apart their opposition in the second half to leave the hardwood with a 10470 win.
The extended road trip leaves HSU with a 3-3 record after six games played away from home.
The away stretch began on Feb. 26 against an inform Academy of Art team with 10 games under its belt as the Lumberjacks
entered their first game of the year.
In their encounters with the Urban Knights, Humboldt State held its own, splitting the two-game series. HSU’s first outing gave incoming coach Tae Norwood the first win of his tenure, with an 89-87 after double overtime.
Efforts from junior-year guard Amari Green, who posted a then career-high 27 points during this game, and senior player Gabrys Sadaunykas’ first career doubledouble helped set the difference between the two teams in their first meeting.
Academy of Art would balance the scales the following game, with a 92-89 score at the final buzzer. The hard-fought contest saw Sims lead HSU’s offense with 29 points scored and seven captured rebounds, to tip the rebound stats column for the Jacks, 34-32.
With a 1-1 record, the Jacks then visited the Western Division eighth-ranked Fresno Pacific University.
An effective pressing game from HSU kept the first meeting between the teams close early into the first half, but the Sunbirds shifted to overwhelm HSU and outscore the Jacks 19-1 in the closing minutes of the game to leave the final scoreboard at 91-65.
The second affair at FPU was more leveled, with Humboldt State keeping up and taking away their host’s lead at times. The Jacks went into the locker room at halftime up on the cards, with a partial 39-34 score.
Both teams continued their attempts to outpace each other, with Humboldt outscoring FPU 7-2, and Fresno Pacific returning the courtesy with a 12-7 score run. The game ended up going to the home team, 76-70.
HSU Men’s basketball did not announce any scheduled home games going into competition this spring.