How, then, did the junior forward log a plus-11 in just 18 minutes of a 13-point win? The “3” showing in the offensive rebounds column of the box score had a lot to do with it.

Suarez helped turn away NAU’s second-half push and the Wildcats went on to defeat the Lumberjacks 78-65 in the Walkup Skydome.

“We made a lot of winning plays tonight,” WSU head coach Eric Duft said in a postgame radio interview. “Ed had some winning plays. Jace Whiting a steal, just a couple tough things he did; we had some verticality at the rim late in the game, our big guys did a better job and didn’t foul.”

For a time, WSU struggled to put away sharpshooting guard Brennan Peterson and a Northern Arizona team getting itself to the line frequently. NAU shot 10 free throw attempts in the opening 10 minutes of the second half, fouls were 8-2 against Weber, and WSU lost a replay challenge of a call that wiped away a Malek Gomma follow dunk.

That set up the Lumberjacks for a Traivar Jackson cutting layup, whittling WSU’s 11-point halftime lead down to two. Gomma and NAU’s Karl Poom traded baskets at the rim to make it 59-57 with 8:35 remaining.

Suarez made his impact there. Leaning in from the right block, he missed a bank shot but jumped to tip in his own miss. After a stop, he missed another paint take, then missed his own tip-in attempt.

But Suarez beat everyone to the ensuing loose ball, saved it from going over the baseline and threw to the top of the arc where the junior Whiting stood alone. For a night, Whiting shrugged off a frustrating season of down-and-out 3s with two second-half makes, including one there to put WSU ahead 64-57 with 7:30 remaining.

“I was really proud of (Suarez) because he couldn’t have played worse in the first half,” Duft said. “I’m like, ‘Ed, you can’t play worse, but we all believe in you. Everybody believes in you.’ Everybody was rallying and excited for him and … down the stretch, he was terrific. Defensively, guarding the ball. If he could just play like that …”

Weber State (8-8, 2-1 Big Sky) never led by less than seven points from that point. After trading baskets, junior point guard Tijan Saine Jr. drove the lane for a layup and hit a quick-trigger 3 in consecutive possessions to all but end the game at 73-61 with 2:17 left.

“Other than about 10-12 minutes of the second half, I thought we played really, really well,” Duft said. “We just kind of stopped playing there for a little bit and then, once we got going again, we were able to get away from them. Credit to our players. They had a great mindset; we had a team victory.”

Viljami Vartiainen led WSU in scoring with 16 points; he was 3 of 4 from downtown early for 11 of WSU’s first 14 points, missed his next six 3-point attempts, then knocked down a final dagger with 1:05 left to cap WSU’s scoring. He added five rebounds.

Saine finished with 15 points and four assists. Nigel Burris tallied 11 points and six rebounds in 25 minutes, and Whiting and Gomma each pitched in 10 points and combined for 10 rebounds. Weber State totaled 17 assists to just five turnovers. Whiting had three steals and was plus-15 in the plus-minus ledger.

Vartiainen (4 of 11) and Saine (3 of 6) led WSU in shooting 13 of 29 (44.8%) from the 3-point line. Along with Whiting’s two, Burris and freshmen ArDarius Grayson, David Hansen and Duce Paschal each made one.

NAU (6-10, 0-3) was without leading scorer in forward Nick Davidson, a fact WSU apparently didn’t know until moments before tipoff.

“We game-planned all week to take him out of the game and we were scrambling 10 minutes before the game because we didn’t know who they were going to start. They went basically with five perimeter players,” Duft said. “So credit to our guys because we had to switch a lot of stuff on the fly there.

“But I will say No. 3 (Jackson), he’s a good player. He played really good at Montana State, and he’s a load.”

Jackson and Peterson were the stars for NAU, combining for 31 points off the bench. Jackson showed an all-around game with 16 points and nine rebounds while Peterson finished 5 of 8 from distance; all other Lumberjacks shot 1 of 17 from the 3-point line.

NAU led 21-19 but WSU finished the first half on a 34-17 advantage to lead 42-31 at the half. The Wildcats led for 32:18 of game time.

Weber State next heads to Greeley to face Northern Colorado, who won 10 games in the nonconference slate, lost their first two league games, and beat Idaho State at home Thursday.

Montana and Montana State are both 3-0 to start the Big Sky slate after each survived close road games down the stretch at Idaho and Eastern Washington.

WBB: NAU 71, WSU 58

Northern Arizona freshman Naomi White poured in a career-high 37 points and the visiting Lumberjacks had little trouble putting away Weber State on Thursday night at the Dee Events Center.

WSU (6-10, 0-3 Big Sky) celebrated the return of senior forward Antoniette Emma-Nnopu but she did most of the lifting and White helped NAU pull away. Emma-Nnopu finished with 16 points and 15 rebounds; she shot 5 of 8 from the field and all other WSU players combined to shoot 14 of 51.

White had 28 points midway through the third when WSU had 31 as a team. NAU’s 27-16 advantage in the third quarter made it 59-41. For the game, White totaled 13 field goals to WSU’s 19; the freshman has logged 11 games of 20 or more points already this season.

NAU (6-10, 2-1) shot 11 of 23 from distance while Weber was 3 of 23. WSU committed 29 turnovers.

Hannah Robbins added 13 points and four steals for Weber State. Fui Niumeitolu added 11.

WSU hosts Northern Colorado at 2 p.m. Saturday. Admission is free for a Carla Taylor celebration game.