Southwestern Upends Riverhawks
WEATHERFORD, Okla. --- Southwestern State snapped Northeastern State's six-game winning streak Saturday at Rankin Williams Field House Saturday 77-70, damaging the RiverHawks chance to share the Lone Star Conference North Division title.
The loss leaves the RiverHawks with a 19-8 season mark and a 10-2 North Division mark. NSU fell to second place in the LSC North after Central Oklahoma defeated Southeastern State 72-67 at Durant on Saturday night. The Bronchos finished 11-1 in division play.
Southwestern with the win is now 12-15 and 6-6 and advances to the LSC Tournament next week in Bartlesville with UCO's win over Southeastern. The RiverHawks will advance as the No. 2 seed in the tournament.
The RiverHawks had three players score in double-figures with Dominique Gaines leading the assault with 21 points. Antoine Branch, who scored 16 points in the first half, finished with 18. Jason Jones also scored 18 points and pulled down 9 rebounds just missing his 11th double-double of the season.
Northeastern State sustained a big blow in the game when guard Marlon Branch went down with an injury on a drive to the basket, when he was knocked to the floor injuring his back. He played only six minutes in the game. Burnett, who averages 10 points, did not score.
It was a back-and -forth game much of the contest before the Bulldogs took the lead for good 51-50 on a 10-foot jumper by Damian Henderson. The RiverHawks held a four-point lead 50-46 with 9:30 left, before the Bulldogs made its run at NSU.
The RiverHawks were 22-of-26 at the free throw line and Southwestern 19-of-28, as the Bulldogs converted 7-of-8 in the final minute of play.
Chancellor Jones and Ross Moore led the Bulldogs' scoring with 19 points each with Damian Henderson scoring 18.
Northeastern State shot just 39 percent from the field (19-of-48) while the Bulldogs were 27-of-59 for 45 percent. The RiverHawks were just 10-of-26 from behind the 3-point line.
Behind Branch's 16 point performance the RiverHawks held a 32-27 advantage at the half as the junior college transfer from Coffeyville was 5-of-8 from the field in the half, which included 4-of-6 from behind the arc.
The first 20 minutes of play was a back-and-forth contest in which there were four lead changes, before NSU coming back from a 3-point deficit tied the game on a layup by Gaines, who was fouled by the Bulldogs' Zack Howe. Gaines drained the free throw to deadlock the game at 27-all with 2:50 left.
Branch then scored on a drive down the lane and followed it up with a 3-point shot with 1:44 left in the half for a 32-27 advantage.
The RiverHawks shot 45 percent in the half (10-of-22), including 5-of-11 on 3-point shots, while Southwestern was shooting 12-of-27 from the field. Northeastern State was perfect at the free throw line connecting on all seven shots. Following Branch in the first half scoring was Gaines with 10 points.
