Men’s Basketball Heads to Montana for Big Sky Play
NAU Game Notes vs. Montana (PDF)
FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. – Former
Lumberjack Ruben Boykin, Jr., would tell a young Nick Larson to
take it all in. His career at NAU would be a quick and gone before
he knew it. Larson is now fives games into his senior season and
preparing for the start of Big Sky Conference play on Friday in
Montana and he understands Boykin.
“Ruben Boykin told me it would fly bye and I never believed
it,” said Larson, who has played in more than 90 games for
the Lumberjacks in his career. “Now I understand it. It
really flied bye but it has been great.”
Larson knows about taking in the moment, leaving nothing for
granted or without appreciation. He was named for a former teammate
of his father, Nick Vanos. Vanos' life was cut short on August 16,
1987 when his Phoenix-bound Northwest Airlines Flight 255 crashed
on takeoff, killing 154 passengers. Vanos was playing for the
Phoenix Suns at the time of his death.
Larson was born seven months later to Dan and Elaine Larson in San
Mateo, Calif. Both played collegiately at Santa Clara, Dan on the
basketball team and Elaine on the volleyball team. They wanted to
honor their friend.
Last week Larson played on the Santa Clara campus of his parents
and Vanos, whose number is retired and hanging in the gym. He
scored four points and had four rebounds in a win over the
Broncos.
“It was not the exact gym my dad played in but it was still
awesome,” said Larson. “And to see the player who I was
named after, Nick Vanos' #32 uniform, hanging in the rafters. I
wanted to go hard. Hopefully Vanos was watching.”
Legendary Suns radio announcer Al McCoy recalled Vanos in a story on Suns.com as a player just beginning to show his promise saying, "They started seeing him as a player who could make a difference."
The same can be said for Larson, who also wears #32, as he leads the Lumberjacks into league play for the final time.
Larson has seen action in all five games with three starts and is
averaging a career-best 6.0 points per game and 4.3 rebounds. He
scored a single-game best 13 points with a career-best eight
rebounds in season opener against Southwestern College.
The Lumberjacks take on Montana in a rare December conference
game Friday night in Missoula. Due to the calendar and holiday
schedules this year, the Big Sky Conference was forced to play a
week of league play in December.
NAU trails 54-30 all-time against Montana including a 30-10 record
in Missoula. NAU lost both meetings with Montana in 2008-09 but has
won two of the last three meetings on the road overall.
Montana is 4-2 on the season and coming off a close loss at
nationally-ranked Washington Sunday in Seattle. The Griz have
posted wins over Oregon and Boise State, leading the league in
scoring defense at 59.3 points per game.
The game can be heard on the Sodexo Lumberjack Radio Network in
Flagstaff on KAFF AM 930 starting at 6:35 p.m. with the pregame
show. Mitch Strohman and Dave Brown will call the game courtside.
The game can be seen on Big Sky TV on
the internet and fans can listen to the Lumberjack call of the game
on Stretch
Internet.
