RiverHawks Overtake Commerce

COMMERCE, Texas -  Northeastern State behind Dominique Gaines and Marlon Burnett held off Texas A&M-Commerce 72-65 Saturday in a Lone Star Conference North Division clash.

Northeastern State goes to 15-7 on the year and 6-1 in the LSC North Division while the Lions fall to 15-7 and 4-3 in the North.

Gaines led the RiverHawks scoring with 22 points while Burnett put home 22 in the victory, while Antoine Branch scored 11 points. The RiverHawks shot 43 percent from the field , connecting on 24-of-55 .

The Lions were led by Brian Singleton who scored 19 points in the loss with Preston Whitley adding 12. Commerce shot 45 percent from the field (24-of-53) and was out rebounded by NSU 38-32.

"There's no doubt that Marlon (Burnett) played one of his better games of the year," said Northeastern State head coach Larry Gipson. "We had stretches in the game where Jason (Jones) and Dominque (Gaines) were in foul trouble and Marlon did the job for us.

"Antoine (Branch) had one of his better games and he hit some critical free throws for us down the stretch. But I am real proud of this team. We got a good win and its a little separation for us from Commerce for second place," said Gipson.

The RiverHawks led 35-29 at the half led by Burnett who scored 11 of his 21 points in the first 20 minutes of play. NSU played much of the second half without Jason Jones who went down with an injury, but returned late in the game to score some critical points. Jones finished the game with 6 points and 8 rebounds.

Northeastern increased its lead to 8 points on a jumper by Gaines with 19:13 left 37-29 in the game. The Lions tied the game at 43-all on a Justin Wilkerson basket with 10:43 remaining.

The RiverHawks then out-scored Texas A&M-Commerce 20-11 over the next 8-minutes to snare a 9-point advantage 63-54 with 3:11 remaining. Commerce behind Singleton sliced the RiverHawks lead to four points 67-63 with 28 seconds left.

Branch then put the RiverHawks up by six when the drained two free throws for a 69-63 lead. Gaines then drained more two free throws, Burnett added another at the stripe to put the game away in the final 20 seconds of play.

The RiverHawks will play Southeastern State Wednesday night in Durant in a LSC North Division contest. Tip-off is scheduled for 8 p.m.