SACRAMENTO, Calif. — The NAU men's basketball team saw its once hefty 18-point lead cut down late in its key road game at Sacramento State on Saturday.

The Lumberjacks needed someone — anyone — to stand tall or they were on their way to their first loss to the Hornets in three seasons. Enter junior point guard and co-captain Josh Wilson.

With 4:27 lft in regulaton, Wilson beat his defender off the dribble in the Jacks' half-court set, drove straight to the rim and rattled in a two-footer in traffic. That play sparked a 5-0 run over the next 1:21 and NAU won going away, 80-69.

Wilson hit his final four free throws and finished with 19 points and a game-high eight assists. Fellow Jacks captain Kyle Landry also finished with 19 points. He had nine rebounds and blocked three shots.

"I think it's up to me and Kyle when stuff gets out of hand," Wilson said. "We've got to step up and take control because we've been there. Everyone looks to us to step it up."

NAU senior wing Nathan Geiser also made some noise, scoring a team-high 21 points on 5 of 9 shooting from the field — including 3-for-7 from 3-point range — and a 8-for-9 performance from the charity stripe.

"Give them credit. They didn't lay down and give up," Geiser said of Sacramento State (3-14 overall, 1-5 Big Sky Conference). "But we went with our game plan, we ran our plays.

"Every game is huge now. That one slip up at Portland State kinda us stopped us for a minute, but we regrouped."

NAU coach Mike Adras hadn't lost to the Hornets since the 2004-05 season, but he wasn't taking anything for granted on Saturday.

"I thought we took Sac State's best shot. I knew they were going to put up a fight because they have to play their next three games on the road," he said. "Even though we led by 18, they didn't fold."

With the win, NAU (13-6, 5-1) maintains sole possesson of first place in the Big Sky. Weber State (8-8, 3-1), which was idle on Saturday, but plays at Montana today, is in second place.

Portland State (11-8, 4-2) moved into third place with an overtime win over visiting Northern Colorado.

The Jacks built their 18-point lead thanks in part to the play of Landry, Geiser and junior forward Zarko Comagic, but saw it crumble when Hornets' sharpshooters Vinnie McGhee and Loren Leath got hot from long range.

McGhee went 5-for-8 from 3-point range and finished with a game-high 22 points. Leath struggled overall with a 1-for-3 performance from long range, but his 3 late in the second half was key in the Hornets' comeback.

Comagic finshed with 10 points and six rebounds.

"Zarko played a terriffic game for us," Adras added. "He had five defensive rebounds and that number makes me really happy."

NAU will contnue its exteded road swing whe it plays at Weber State on Friday, then at Idaho State on Sunday.

Keith Jiron can be reached at kjiron@azdailysun.com or 556-2259.