Weber State had even more trouble than that Thursday night in Greeley, losing to the Bears 89-72.

“I was disappointed in our energy,” WSU head coach Eric Duft said. “We had two tenacious practices where we were really competing against each other and I was disappointed we didn’t bring that to the game … You’ve got to be ready to play on game day.

“So, good lesson, they’re a good team. Tough to win here, no question. But we’ve got to come out with a way better mindset, more energy, and play the guys who are doing things with the kind of energy and effort you need to be successful.”

Northern Colorado (9-5, 134 NCAA NET) controlled both ends of the floor in the first half, seemingly getting steals, blocks, deflections and other disruptions every time Weber State had the ball.

And, Weber State’s defense was no match for the Bears’ downhill driving game from Langston Reynolds and Isaiah Hawthorne.

Blaise Threatt scored eight early points, including two 3-pointers, and a Vasilije Vucinic hoop-plus-harm in the paint had the score at 14-12.

But when Northern Colorado wasn’t able to get deflections, WSU missed many of its best looks in the next stretch. Reynolds and Marcell McCreary got out in transition for easy buckets on WSU turnovers to pour a 12-0 run on the Wildcats, making it 26-12 with 11:15 left in the first half.

And, after a 48-29 halftime deficit, Weber State (6-9, 263 NET) spent the entire game trying and failing to make up that difference.

The Bears went up 57-35 when Zach Bloch and company added 3-point makes to his team’s difficult drive game (NoCo shot well above its 3-point average with a 12-of-24 mark).

To make matters worse, WSU starting forward Nigel Burris turned his ankle when Hawthorne put his feet in Burris’s landing spot on a 3-point attempt. Burris missed all three free throws and sat for nearly 10 minutes, but did return.

Still, Weber State mounted a run keyed by Dyson Koehler and Trevor Hennig. Koehler scored a few times in the paint, Hennig made a 3-pointer for a 10-0 rally and an Alex Tew free throw had the score to 60-49 with 13:24 left.

But WSU couldn’t pair enough stops and makes together to truly make it a game.

Koehler missed an offensive rebound putback and Hawthorne quickly made a 3 the other way. A few minutes later, Reynolds jammed home an alley-oop dunk to restore the Bears to a 73-52 lead. With 7:15 left, that all but sealed the game.

Hawthorne led Northern Colorado with 17 points and five assists, shooting 9 of 10 at the foul line. Center Brock Wisne added 16 points. Reynolds total 14 points, seven rebounds and five assists.

For Weber State, the freshman Hennig led with 17 points and Koehler scored 16. Those two combined to shoot 7 of 10 from the 3-point line; everyone else was 2 of 11.

“It was good to see Dyson come back and play with the energy we know he has and that he brings to the team. He was a real bright spot tonight,” Duft said. “Trevor played really well in his first Big Sky game. We’ve just got to get some other guys involved there.”

WSU had five players in double figures, with Threatt scoring 13 points, Burris 11 and Vucinic adding 10. But it was the other end of the floor that did WSU in; Shooting 50% from 3, Northern Colorado also finished 66.7% on two-pointers to scorch the Wildcats.

“Overall, just not good enough,” Duft said. “Last year, we (started) with two blowout wins at home and probably didn’t get better along the way like we thought maybe we would. This team still has a lot of room for improvement … we’ve got to keep working through it.”

WSU travels to Northern Arizona for a 2 p.m. Saturday matchup after the Lumberjacks coughed up an 18-point lead with 15 minutes left to lose to Idaho State by five. The Bengals held conference leading scorer Trent McLaughlin to 12 points.

Montana pulled away at Eastern Washington for a 92-81 win and Idaho surprised Montana State 69-64.