Both Northwestern State basketball teams remain on Mike McConathy Court at Prather Coliseum on Saturday afternoon looking to bounce back from homecourt losses earlier this week as Houston Christian visits in a 1 o’clock Southland Conference doubleheader..
The games will stream on ESPN+ with radio coverage available on the Demon Sports Network, flagshipped by 100.7 FM KZBL in Natchitoches.
Prior to tipoff of the 3:30 men’s game, Northwestern will honor seniors Quentin Bolton Jr., Landyn Jumawan, Willie Williams and Micah Thomas in their penultimate regular-season home appearance.
NSU (8-19, 6-12) enters the matchup following a 75–64 loss to McNeese on Monday night.
Despite trailing by as many as 22 points in the second half, the Demons mounted a 13–0 run while holding the Cowboys scoreless for nearly eight minutes, cutting the deficit to single digits before running out of time.
“We’ve got to build off that,” head coach Rick Cabrera said. “We allowed them to shoot nearly 49 percent until about the eight-minute mark of the second half. But those last eight minutes, they didn’t score a basket. Most of our points came off of our defense. That’s something we can grow from.”
Thomas led the way in the loss with 27 points including 12-of-13 aim at the free-throw line.
Houston Christian (10-17, 6-12) enters Saturday riding a two-game winning streak after victories against New Orleans and Nicholls. The Huskies edged UNO 61–60 on a game-winning floater by D’Aundre Samuels with 1.6 seconds left, then closed out Nicholls 72–68 behind late free throws from Kylin Green.
The previous meeting between the teams on Jan. 19 in Houston came down to the final possession, with HCU winning 82–80 on Green’s free throws in the closing seconds.
Cabrera believes the difference between this group and the one that fell in Houston earlier this season is on the defensive end.
“We’re a much better defensive team than we were back in January,” Cabrera said. “When both teams get into the 80s like that first game, neither defense was very good. The only thing that’s going to get us into this (upcoming conference) tournament is defending and rebounding. We’ve got good players that can score, but we have to defend and rebound to win.”
COLD SHOOTING SINKS LADY DEMONS: A dominating performance on the glass and a career high from Vernell Atamah were not enough to offset a cold shooting night in a 71-65 loss to UIW on Thursday evening at Prather Coliseum.
Despite outrebounding the Cardinals 48-35, NSU (13-13, 10-8) shot 29.6 percent from the field, while UIW (12-13, 10-8) shot 48 percent and 60 percent from deep to win.
The loss overshadowed a career night from Atamah, who scored a career-high 33 points to go with 11 rebounds for her second double-double in the last three contests.
She made six 3-pointers to bring her total to 76 on the season, moving her into a tie for fourth place in program history for made 3-pointers in a single season. Her total is now just 12 shy of the school record of 88, set by Beatrice Attura in 2016-17.
“There were so many positives and so many dominant things from the game,” head coach Anna Nimz said. “Statistically, you look at it, you take care of the ball, and you win the rebounding war, especially in that fashion, plus the rebound put backs, you should win that game by 20.
“It’s a tough one to swallow. I hate it for the girls. There are too many two-possession games that we’ve left on the board.”
Clarence Djuela added a career-high 17 rebounds, including 10 on the offensive glass.
As a team, the Demons grabbed 27 offensive rebounds, the most in a game since also hauling down 27 against Loyola (NO) on Nov. 25, 2011. It is the most against a Division I opponent since collecting 29 against Sam Houston State on Feb. 8, 2007.
“Overall, I thought we played one of our better games,” Atamah said. “All my teammates brought in tonight. Clarence was just wonderful on the boards. I do think we need to do a better job at pulling away in a game like that.”
Coming in shooting 31.5 percent from deep, the Cardinals made 9-of-15 from deep to keep them in the lead throughout much of the second half.
Even though it made nine triples, UIW did not attempt one in the fourth quarter, a period that was the deciding factor in the Cardinals victory.
NSU finishes its five-game homestand Saturday with a Senior Day game against Houston Christian. Tipoff is at 1 p.m., as the Demons are honoring five seniors.
