Hoggies KO'd

TAHLEQUAH, Okla. --- Northeastern State shot a sizzling 76 percent in the second half and had four players score in double-figures as the RiverHawks rolled over Texas A&M-Kingsville 77-53 in a Lone Star Conference crossover game Thursday night at Jack Dobbins Field House.

The victory improved Northeastern State's record to 4-3 and it was RiverHawks head coach Larry Gipson's 500th career win as a collegiate coach. Gipson is now 500-295 over 27 years and is 215-135 at Northeastern State.

Northeastern State's Jason Jones led the RiverHawks' attack with a career high 28 points and he pulled down 9 rebounds just missing a double-double. Ethan Anderson poured in 13 points with Antoine Branch scoring 11 and Marlon Burnett 10.

"I'm really pleased for our kids because you are starting to see glimpses of a good basketball team and I'm happy," said Gipson. "That performance was the best performance we've had for 40 minutes.

"We turned it over a little too much (18), but other than that I thought we played very well. I was also pleased that we got four guys in double figures.  And, a couple of other guys contributed with four or five points. That's what we've got to have."

The RiverHawks canned 16-of-21 shots from the field in the second half and finished 26-of-41 for the game for a 63 percent shooting night. The RiverHawks were 8-of-9 on treys in the second half and 11-of-17 for the game.

Northeastern State held a huge edge on the boards 38-14, as Kingsville drops to 6-2 for the year.

"I was pleasantly surprised by the rebounding advantage we had. We did a really good job defensively and an excellent job getting some offensive rebounds," said Gipson.

Kingsville's scoring was led by Antwan Mullins with 13 points with Brock Kimball adding 11.

The RiverHawks dominated the second half of play increasing an 11-point halftime lead of 29-18 and surging to a 26-point margin with 3:44 remaining at 70-44. The Javelinas never held the lead in the game on 33 percent shooting for the night (16-of-48).

Jones said concerning his play against Texas A&M-Kingsville, "It was very physical game. They had the big guy on me and we were banging inside. Then they put a bunch of little guys on me, who were quicker than I was.

"It was a very good performance by the team. We stopped them defensively the whole way. We were able to get some production from some guys and that was a big help. That was a step up for us. Coach has been talking about that to get some guys to score points. The guys have been in the gym working on it. It showed tonight," said Jones.

Midway the second half Jones scored on a 4-point play. The pre-season All-America candidate sank a trey from the right wing and was fouled by the Javelinas' Marcus Ford. Jones then sank the free throw to complete the 4-point play to give NSU a 41-25 lead with 15:18 remaining. The RiverHawks were never contested the rest of the way.

Northeastern State jumped out to an 8-0 lead in the opening 20 minutes and increased its lead to 11 points at the half 29-18.

The Javelinas never led the first half as the RiverHawks held Kingsville to just 25 percent shooting from the field (6-of-24).  The Javelinas were 1-of-10 on 3-point attempts in the half.
NSU was shooting 50 percent from the field (10-20) as Jones led the way with 10 first half points. Burnett trailed Jones in the scoring at half with 8 points.

The RiverHawks return to Dobbins Field House on Saturday for a 4 p.m. game with Missouri Southern State University.