McConathy's Threes Spark Northwestern State to Victory
Northwestern State 77, Missouri Valley 68
NATCHITOCHES, La. - Michael McConathy hit all five of his first-half 3-point shots Saturday afternoon, sparking Northwestern State to a 77-68 college basketball win over Missouri Valley.
McConathy did not score after his 15-point first-half outburst, but he added six assists and a steal in 22 minutes. The senior guard, sixth on the Demons' career assists top 10 with 330, did not have a turnover.
Damon Jones posted 16 points to top four double-figure scorers for Northwestern (5-5), which never trailed and led by as many as 21 points midway through the second half. The margin was 17 with three minutes left before Missouri Valley (8-5) closed the gap against Northwestern reserves, but never got closer than the final margin.
Dominic Knight pitched in 15 points and had three assists for Northwestern, while William Mosley scored a season-high 10 points, snared eight rebounds, blocked four shots and made three steals in 21 minutes while making all five of his shots from the floor.
Eleven Northwestern players scored and all 13 who were dressed out played, with 10 getting at least 11 minutes and nobody playing more than 26 by Knight.
Bryant Porter posted 18 points, including a 55-foot rainbow 3-pointer at the halftime buzzer, to pace the NAIA Vikings. Toray Henry added 15.
McConathy's 3-point showing paced a 9-of-18 performance behind the arc for the Demons, who were a miserable 2-of-16 on three pointers in a bitter 63-62 home-court loss Wednesday to Grambling.
"We shot them in the flow of the offense today and took better quality shots," 11th-year head coach Mike McConathy said. "We were a 39 percent shooting team on 3-pointers before Wednesday night, so we were closer to form today."
Even with Porter's long 3-point heave to end the first half, Northwestern led 39-31 and stretched the advantage to 52-36 with more than five minutes into the second half.
"Our first five was pretty good today. We had good ball movement, we made crisp passes, and overall had a nice performance from that group," McConathy said. "Our second group wasn't as sharp and of course we missed Devon (Baker) but we beat as well-coached a team as we'll play all season long."
Baker, Northwestern's second-leading scorer for the season, missed his third game in the last five due to a hamstring injury.
The outing was the Demons' final game before Christmas. They will play at Hawaii on Dec. 28, visit Texas A&M Jan. 2, and return home on Jan. 4 for a game against Southern-New Orleans.
Arkansas 72, Stephen F. Austin 69
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. - Mark Gomillia's game-tying 3-point attempt bounced off the rim as time expired, ending a late comeback bid by Stephen F. Austin Saturday in a 72-69 loss at Arkansas' Bud Walton Arena.
The desperation three followed a 1-of-2 performance at the stripe on the other end of the floor by Rotnei Clarke, Arkansas' top free-throw shooter. The Lumberjacks had fouled Clarke with 11 seconds left after Denzel Barnes hit a 3-pointer to get Stephen F. Austin to within two points (71-69).
But the shot from the right wing bounced wild, ending Stephen F. Austin's win streak at five games and moving the Lumberjacks to 6-3 on the season. Arkansas (6-5) picked up its fourth straight victory.
The Lumberjacks trailed by 11 (64-53) with five minutes to play but went on a 7-0 run during the next two minutes to make it a 64-61 game with 3:14 to play. Two possessions later, Eddie Williams brought SFA to within two with a 3-pointer at the 2:40 mark.
After Arkansas wrapped a jumper and a free throw around an SFA turnover to go back up by five (69-64), Gomillia came out of a pile under the Lumberjack basket and dropped in a layup to make it a three-point game.
Following two foul shots at the other end, Barnes connected on a rushed three from the top of the key that was his only bucket of the game, setting up the final plays of the game.
Senior guard Walt Harris scored a career-high 22 points on 8-of-14 shooting for SFA but played just 23 minutes after sitting down with 15:16 remaining in the second half. He strained a muscle in his back shortly after connecting on his third 3-pointer of the game. The shot came at the 15:45 mark and gave SFA a four-point lead (40-36), but Harris was unable to return.
Junior forward Jordan Glynn scored 14 points with 12 rebounds - both career highs - to put up his fourth straight double-double and fifth straight double-figure rebounding game. Sophomore center Jereal Scott joined in with 15 points and 10 boards for his first double-double of the season.
Arkansas' Mike Washington scored 25 points to lead all players and pulled down 11 rebounds.
For the game, Stephen F. Austin shot 44 percent from the field and 47 percent from 3-point range, but hit just 12 of its 17 free throw attempts. At the other end, Arkansas shot 47 percent from the field and connected on half of its 14 3-point attempts. The Razorbacks were even worse at the foul stripe, hitting just 15 of 22 attempts.
Rebounding finished in a dead heat with each team pulling down 32 boards. Arkansas finished with a 32-28 advantage in the paint, but Stephen F. Austin outscored the Razorbacks, 14-12, in second-chance scoring. The Lumberjacks forced nine turnovers and enjoyed a 13-5 advantage in points off turnovers.
Stephen F. Austin took its first lead of the game with 9:41 to play in the first half on a layup by Jereal Scott. The 'Jacks stretched their advantage to as many as six and led, 33-28, at the half.
Arkansas re-took the lead early in the second period and had a double-digit advantage by the 6:09 mark, before Stephen F. Austin began its late push.
The Lumberjacks will be back in action Tuesday, when they host East Central Oklahoma. The game is scheduled for a 7 p.m. tip from Johnson Coliseum.
DePaul 86, Texas State 69
ROSEMONT, Ill.- In a game that can be described as a tale of two halves, DePaul used a 17-0 run within a six-minute period to come back and defeat Texas State 86-69 at Allstate Arena on Saturday afternoon.
"I thought that during the first 17 minutes of the game we had (DePaul) doubting themselves and realizing that they were in for a real fight," Texas State coach Doug Davalos said. "But they made a key adjustment with four minutes to play in the first half."
The two teams battled back and forth during the first seven minutes of the game as DePaul opened up a 14-11 lead on Devin Hill's jumper with 13:20 left in the opening period.
The Bobcats answered with a 13-0 run to open up a 24-14 lead after John Rybak nailed a 3-point shot with nine minutes to play. Texas State's run began when Roshun Jackson made a lay-up off an offensive rebound. Then, J.B. Conley hit a jump shot for his only two points of the game before Jackson stole the ball from Michael Bizoukas and drove down for his second layup in the game.
After Uriel Segura hit a pair of free throws, he passed to Cameron Johnson for a jumper at the free-throw line before Rybak sealed the run with his trey.
After the Blue Demons scored five straight points, Dylan Hale's driving jumper in the lane gave Texas State a 26-19 lead. Then, the Bobcats also capitalized on a turnover by Mike Stovall when Cameron Johnson stole the ball and threw ahead to Rybak for a layup.
After DePaul's Eric Wallace scored on a dunk shot, Johnson made the first of his two free throws and Rybak nailed another three-point basket to give Texas State a 32-21 lead with 4:38 left to play in the opening period.
"I thought we had gained the lead by trapping the ball when they set screens in their offense," Davalos said. "But, they made the adjustment of doing the same thing to us."
Another adjustment by the Blue Demons was to hit forward Devin Hill for a pair of 3-point shots on the offensive end in the remainder of the first half. Hill's first three-pointer came on DePaul's next possession. Eric Wallace also made one of his two free throws and a jump shot on the next three possessions to pull DePaul to within 32-27. Nate Rogers netted a pair of free throws before Hill nailed his second trey and Mike Stovall scored on a lay-up to give the Blue Demons a 34-32 lead at halftime.
The Blue Demons capped off their 17-0 run by scoring the first four points in the second half before Emmanuel Bidias A' Moute hit a jumper in the paint to make the score 38-34. After the two teams exchanged a pair of jump shots, the Blue Demons scored four straight points on lay-up by Stovall and a jumper by Walker to extend the lead to 44-36.
DePaul extended its lead to 61-47 on a three-point shot by Walker before the Bobcats answered with a 6-0 run. Johnson began the run with a free throw before Rybak nailed another 3-pointer and Hale made two free throws to make the score 61-53 with 8:26 left to play.
Hale hit another 3-point shot to make the score 69-61 with 6:17 left to play, but the Bobcats could not get any closer than nine points the rest of the way.
Texas State trailed 74-65 with 1:34 left to play before Hill hit another three-point shot and Walker stole the ball and hit Mike Stovall for a lay-up to open a 79-65 lead with 1:17 left to play.
After Rybak scored on a lay-up off an offensive rebound, the Bobcats were forced to foul with 58 seconds left to play.
DePaul came into the game hitting just 53.4 percent of their free throws in the first 10 games of the season, but the Blue Demons ended Saturday's game making three of their final four free throws on Saturday before Stovall scored the final points of the game on a slam dunk.
Walker led DePaul with 23 points after scoring 20 points in the second half. Stovall and Hill also netted 19 points each as the Blue Demons improved to 7-4 this season.
Hale scored a career-best of 22 points to lead Texas State, while Rybak added 21 points for the Bobcats, who fell to 3-8 this season.
Louisiana Tech 79, McNeese State 58
RUSTON, La. - McNeese State jumped out to an early seven point lead but could not overcome foul trouble in a 79-58 loss at Louisiana Tech on Saturday.
Stephan Martin put in the first three points of the game to jump start the Cowboys, but twelve first half fouls and a scoreless last 4:02 of the first half would give the Bulldogs a 44-23 advantage at the intermission.
McNeese (4-6) was held scoreless for the first 3:45 of the second half but did manage to hold the Bulldogs to just 35 points after the break while scoring 35 of their own.
"I felt like we dictated the pace but looking back I probably would have put a little more pressure on them," McNeese coach Dave Simmons said. "We started getting in our rhythm but by that time it was a little too late."
Every Cowboy on the roster saw action including Daniel Richard who scored a career high eight points and made a career high two field goals.
"Daniel came out ready to play," Simmons said of Richard's play. "Unfortunately for him, he didn't have much help tonight."
Junior Will Morning received his first start of the season but fouled out with 18:06 left to play. Morning was followed shortly thereafter by Elbryan Neal, who received his fifth foul at the 15:28 mark and Richard who received his fifth with just 1:30 left in the game.
As a team the Cowboys were blown for 25 total fouls during the game, sending the Bulldogs to the line 33 times where they made 22 of their attempts.
Turnovers also proved costly for McNeese who gave the ball up a total of 19 times. Louisiana Tech (10-2) would capitalize with 20 points off of the loose balls.
Patrick Richard led the Cowboys with 12 points and had a team high eight of the Cowboys 43 total rebounds.
"Most of the damage was done in the paint," Simmons said. "Magnum Rolle had 17 rebounds and14 points. We knew he was good but we thought we could handle him a little better than that."
McNeese, who came into the game shooting just 64.2 percent from the free throw line, shot a much-improved 10-12 from the charity stripe including Richards perfect 4-for-4 effort.
"I want to come out of this knowing we are a better basketball team then we showed tonight," Simmons said. "Every loss you can take something from and hopefully we can take something from this one."
The Cowboys will return to Burton Coliseum for the first time in three weeks when they face off against Southern-New Orleans Tuesday at 7 p.m.
Louisiana-Lafayette 68, Lamar 60
BEAUMONT, Texas - Louisiana-Lafayette outscored Lamar 17-6 over the final 9:21 to upend the Cardinals 68-60 at the Montagne Center on Saturday night.
Lamar had just completed a 7-0 run to claim a 54-51 lead before UL-Lafayette scored 13-straight for a 64-54 lead with 3:21 remaining as the Cards dropped their first home game of the season.
Lamar (4-7) was led by Anthony Miles who finished with 14 points, four rebounds and four assists. Charlie Harper had 11 points and Justin Nabors ended the game with 10 points and nine boards. The Cardinals shot 38 percent and committed 18 turnovers.
Louisiana (4-5) shot 43 percent from the floor and made eight 3-pointers, with five from Randell Daigle who led all scorers with 19. Chris Gradnigo had all 16 of his points in the second half.
The Cardinals scored the game's first nine points and led 16-8 eight minutes into the period following a Miles layup. The Ragin' Cajuns fought back and took their first lead at 23-22 on a Colby Batiste dunk with 4:41 to play in the half. UL-Lafayette led by as many as seven before Lamar's E.B. Davis made a 3-pointer in the final minute to send the teams into the locker room with UL-Lafayette ahead 34-30.
Lamar outrebounded UL-Lafayette 39-33 and there were seven lead changes along with a pair of tie scores.
Lamar will return to action on Wednesday when it plays host to Rice. Start time at the Montagne Center is set for 7:05 p.m.
UMKC 78, Central Arkansas 67
KANSAS CITY, Mo. - Central Arkansas Bears saw its four-game winning streak come to an end Saturday night in a 78-67 loss at UMKC.
Despite a career-high 26 points and 11 rebounds from senior Mitch Rueter, the Bears lost for the first time in December and fell to 5-6 overall. UMKC shot 52 percent overall and made eight three-pointers to improve to 6-4 on the season.
The Bears fell behind by 14 at halftime as the Kangaroos attacked from the perimeter throughout the first half. UMKC made 7 of 12 three-point attempts and shot 59.3 percent overall to take a 41-27 lead to the locker room. Central Arkansas got a three-point play from senior forward Mitch Rueter in the final seconds to get that close. The Bears shot 43.5 percent overall but made only 6-of-12 at the free-throw line in the first 20 minutes.
"They shot it extremely well in the first half," UCA coach Rand Chappell said. "They are a good team and they've been playing well. They were coming off a game where they scored over 100 points.
"In scouting them, nobody had made more than 10 threes so they didn't have one outstanding guy. But they all shoot it a little bit and they obviously got on a roll in the first half. One time it was one person not closing out hard, next time it was someone else missing an assignment, and next time in the zone we don't rotate quick enough. I think it was a team effort of not quite getting to where we needed to be."
The Kangaroos pushed their lead to 17 points early in the second half before the Bears fought back with baskets by Rueter, Jared Rehmel and Tadre Sheppard. A 3-pointer from Rehmel and an inside basket by Rueter cut the UMKC lead to 52-42 with 12 minutes remaining.
The Bears kept the pressure on down the stretch, closing the margin to single digits three times in the final three minutes. Rueter, a fifth-year senior from Batesville, Ark., hit his second three-pointer with 2:08 left to draw the Bears within 68-60. Central Arkansas forced UMKC into five turnovers in the final two minutes, including two five-second calls, to stay close.
A pair of free throws from UCA junior Chris Poellnitz with 1:10 remaining made it a 9-point game. Rueter then made another 3-pointer with 41.8 seconds to play for a 75-67 deficit. But Jay Couisnard got behind the UCA defense for a dunk with 28 seconds left and Spencer Johnson closed it out with a free throw at the :17 mark.
For the game, the Kangaroos made 18 of 24 at the line compared to 14-of-27 for the Bears.
"They shoot a high percentage for the game, 54 percent," Chappell said. "In the second half, we gambled some and gave them some easy layups and made it a little too easy for them. You're not going to win on the road when you don't stop the other team every now and then."
In addition to Rueter, who suffered an eye injury in the first half, Poellnitz added 14 points and Rehmel 11. Junior forward Tadre Sheppard, who was coming off consecutive double-doubles, was held to nine points and seven rebounds.
"Mitch really shot it well and played hard. He had a really good effort," Chappell said. "I thought our guys had a good effort. You look at it, we shot 47 percent, so I guess we lost it on the defensive end, not the offensive end, with not being able to shut them down.
"We put some pressure on them late, but we missed too many free throws as a team. I told the guys, if you just look at the box score, you'd say it was probably free throw shooting. We have to shoot free throws better. To come into a place like this and win, you have to play really good basketball and I thought we played an OK game. We competed hard but didn't play great."
Trey McKinney-Jones topped the Kangaroos with 21 points, while Couisnard had 17 and Johnson 13. UMKC made 8-of-15 from 3-point range (53.3 percent) for the game.
UCA continues its road trip at Western Illinois on Tuesday.
Texas Stouthern 71, Southeastern Louisiana 65
FORT WORTH, Texas - Robert Tibbs scored a season-high 19 points while Patrick Sullivan posted a double-double with 10 points and 12 rebounds, but Southeastern turned in its poorest shooting performance of the season and dropped a 71-65 decision to Texas Southern in the Robert Hughes Classic on Saturday at the Wilkerson-Greines Activity Center.
Brandon Fortenberry added 17 points for Southeastern (7-3), which shot a season-low 36.7 percent (18-for-49) from the floor and committed a season-high 18 turnovers.
Deandre Hall scored 15 points to lead four players in double figures for Texas Southern (4-6), which shot 64 percent (16-for-25) in the first half and 57 percent (29-for-51) for the game. Marc Ellis came off the bench to score 12 points for the Tigers while David Burrell added 11 and Travele Jones 10 points and a team-high eight rebounds.
Texas Southern opened the game with a 9-2 run before the Lions chipped away, taking a 14-13 lead on a Sullivan basket with 13:55 remaining. Texas Southern regained the lead and built a 31-23 cushion on a jumper by Jones at the 5:24 mark and led 39-34 at halftime.
After a bucket by Clayborn gave Texas Southern a 50-43 lead, Southeastern fought back knotting the game at 17-17 on a 3-pointer by Rodney Jones with 6:49 left. Fortenberry gave the Lions the lead on the following possession with a 3-pointer, but the Tigers tied the contest at 61-61 with a pair of free throws.
Hall, who finished 7-for-13 from the floor, hit a bucket with 3:05 remaining that gave the Tigers the lead for good at 64-63 before adding a free throw at the 2:14 mark for a 65-63 advantage.
The Lions had a chance to tie the game with Tibbs was fouled on the ensuing possession. But Tibbs, who entered the game shooting 89 percent from the line, missed both attempts and the Tigers took advantage as Ellis tipped in a missed Hall miss for a 67-63 lead with 1:49 left.
Southeastern will return to action on Tuesday when it plays at North Texas in a 7 p.m. contest.