Northern Colorado reserve guard Quinn Denker hit his fifth 3-pointer for the Bears men’s basketball team Saturday afternoon, and the senior guard held his hand in the air as the ball went through the net.
In an important game against Big Sky Conference rival Northern Arizona, Denker was in a groove at Bank of Colorado Arena in front of a season-high crowd.
Denker received the ball on the right wing and buried the shot after two fast-paced passes by teammates Isaiah Hawthorne and Langston Reynolds with just under 9 minutes to play.
Denker’s 3, his final one of the game, matched a career-high, gave UNC a 24-point lead and the Bears closed out the win 87-69 for its best performance in a few weeks and a hold on first place in the conference.
Denker, 6-foot-3 and a transfer from Big Sky opponent Idaho, was a big reason for the win. He turned in his best performance in a UNC victory this season, scoring 17 points on 5 of 11 shooting from the field and 5 of 10 from 3-point range.
“I try to think of a process over result kind of thing for shooting,” Denker said. “If it’s a good shot for offense, I’m going to shoot it. Make or miss, it’s gotta be a good shot. Today, they were falling.”
Reynolds, a big guard from Denver and Colorado Prep, has been one of the Bears’ leading scorers all season. He was again Saturday with a team-best 23 points and nine rebounds. He’s averaging 17.4 points, now second on the team to Hawthorne’s 17.6.
Guard Jaron Rillie scored 11 of his 20 in the first half as UNC opened the game on an 11-0 run. Hawthorne, a forward and transfer from the University of San Francisco, also finished with 17 points.
UNC scored at least 80 points for the 11th time this season and moved to 8-1 in the Big Sky Conference for the first time in program history. The Bears, 16-6 overall and winners of 10 of 11 since mid-December, used the early run to build momentum and never looked back against the Lumberjacks (4-5 Big Sky and 13-9 overall).
The game was the first of four in eight days for UNC, which has a game lead in the Big Sky standings on second-place Montana (7-2). The Bears leave Sunday morning for a Monday night road game at Idaho State before returning to Greeley on Feb. 6 and Feb. 8 for games against Montana and Montana State, respectively.
Denker bounced back with his offense against Northern Arizona after struggling a week ago at Eastern Washington. Denker was 0 for 6 from the field and 0 for 5 on 3s. He said he and guard Zach Bloch put in some extra work this week, made tweaks and was ready to go against NAU.
“Fine-tuned some things and do what we do, which is shoot when we’re open,” Denker said. “You gotta continue to shoot whether the ball is falling or not.”
Denker and Bloch, who had 6 points on two 3s, also did important work on defense. The guards, with help from teammates such as Reynolds, forward Brock Wisne and others, held NAU leading scorer Trent McLaughlin to 0 for 8 shooting from the floor in the first half.
Wisne, a sophomore forward from Thornton, left the game in the second half with a hand or finger injury on his non-shooting hand. Bears coach Steve Smiley said he saw “one of his digits going the wrong way” when Wisne left the court. Wisne returned to the bench, was cleared to return to the game and would’ve re-entered the game if the Bears needed him as NAU trimmed the lead down to 14 points.
“There’s no one tougher than that dude,” Smiley said. “I would anticipate him being fine.”
McLaughlin, a 6-6 guard, leading scorer in the conference and preseason player of the year, came into the game averaging 21.5 points per game. He finished with 16 points on 6 of 19 shots from the floor and without a 3 in five attempts.
“We recognize his tendencies,” Denker said. “It’s more about making sure everything is tough. Not letting him touch the ball in places he likes to touch it. It was had for him to get going there for a little while. It’s a win for us if he’s getting 16 points on 19 shots.”
Denker said coming into games off the bench, and making his contribution to the Bears, is his role on the team. Denker said that part “is really nothing.” He said he loves the team, “doing my best and just trying to be the best possible Quinn I can be.”
NAU coach Shane Burcar said the Bears’ defense made his entire team work for its points, and not only McLaughlin. The Bears held NAU to 25 points in the first half on 31% shooting from the field.
“They do a good job locking him up and being physical with him,” Burcar said. “I thought Trent had a couple of good shots. Just didn’t go down. Northern Colorado plays such good team defense. Bloch, No. 11, is one of the best defenders in the league, and we knew that coming into it. A great team effort by UNC.”
UNC coach Steve Smiley said the match-up of Denker and Bloch, who is 6-2, was the only match-up for the Bears on McLaughlin.
Smiley called 6-4 NAU guard Jayden Jackson a “post-up guard” so it made more sense to go with the 6-4, 195-pound Reynolds on Jackson. Hawthorne, a 6-8 forward, took on defending 6-5 NAU forward Diego Campisano.
“It was Zach and Quinn, but we switch so much too, it was everybody,” Smiley said. “I think Zach is as good a defender as anybody in the league, and I think Langston is, too. With McLaughlin, for the most part, he’s running off screens. He’s a perimeter player, and Zach is just so detailed, he’ll never make a mistake.”
Want more sports news? Sign up for the Sports Omelette to get all our analysis on Denver’s teams.