GREELEY, Colo.—Will Figures and Devon Beitzel scored 24 points each leading Northern Colorado to a 93-69 victory over San Jose State Monday night.
“We recruit shooters so people can’t zone us,” Northern Colorado coach Tad Boyle said of Figures and Beitzel. “We got it going and when we watched a couple go in, it’s contagious.”
Neal Kingman added 11 for Northern Colorado (10-3). The Bears are out to their best start since opening 10-2 in 1988-89.
Northern Colorado hit a school record 18 3-pointers on 37 attempts from beyond the arc. It was its weapon to counter the San Jose State zone.
“We take it as a team can’t guard us when a team zones is,” Figures said. “We just want to attack, make the right plays and shoot them out of it and that’s what we did tonight.”
Adrian Oliver led San Jose State (5-5) with 26 points. C.J. Webster contributed 16 for the Spartans, who were denied their first three-game winning streak of the year.
“I tried to keep it going and tried to provide a spark,” Oliver said of his 8-for-16 shooting game. “But they had a guy face guarding me the whole time so I knew it would be tougher than normal.”
Oliver was coming off a 31-point game.
The Spartans fell behind 46-35 at the start of the of the second half, managing only two free throws by Oliver while Beitzel and Yahosh Bonnor were hitting a 3-pointer each. Connor Osborne’s layup and free throw put Northern Colorado up 53-38 with 14:52 left.
The UNC lead was 68-58 after Oliver’s basket and layup, but Figures’ 3-pointer put it back at 15, 73-58, and Bonnor’s 3-pointer made it 81-61. San Jose State never got closer than 17 over the final 5:40.
“We came into the game saying we can’t let Figures and Beitzel get a lot of open looks,” San Jose State coach George Nessman said. “I think for a while we contained them, but once they got it going, it’s real hard to put that back in the bottle, and they got it rolling.”
Figures and Beitzel had 11 points each by halftime as Northern Colorado led 38-33. Chris Kaba’s short jumper put the Bears ahead 36-27, but Mac Peterson’s late 3-pointer got San Jose State back to within five.
“They came out in a zone and I was open on the first shot I took,” Figures said. “It went down and I didn’t hesitate after that.”
