NATCHITOCHES, La. – In the second meeting between the two teams in less than 48 hours, the Northwestern State Demons defended home court by beating the Texas A&M University-Commerce by a score of 72-64 on Saturday at Prather Coliseum.
The Demons won both games this week over the Lions and improve to 10-3 in Southland Conference, remaining in first place, they are 18-8 overall. The Lions are 11-15 overall and now 7-5 in conference play, having lost their last two.
Northwestern State grabbed a slim 9-8 lead with 16:02 left in the first half, the Lions followed with an 9-0 run to grab a seven-point lead at the 13:34 mark of the first. NSU tied the game at 19 and took a lead as big as seven in the first half. There were six lead changes in the first half.
Demarcus Demonia (Fort Washington, Md.) scored 13 in the first half for the Lions, who shot 48 percent from the field. Northwestern State led 42-36 at the break and shot 46 percent.
The Demons led for the entire second half, but the Lions did pull to within one twice. Both times, Northwestern State was able to score on the other end. In the final minute of the game, the Lions had the ball down three, they could not get the game-tying shot in, and Northwestern State converted an and-one on the other end to go back up by six.
Demonia scored 17 points and six rebounds.
JJ Romer Rosario (Hialeah Gardens, Fla.) scored 13 and team-best seven rebounds, while
Khaliq Abdul-Mateen (Cy-Lakes) added 11 points.
Jerome Brewer, Jr. (Camden, N.J.) blocked four shots, the only four blocked shots by either team in the game.
Alonzo Dodd (St. Paul, Minn.) and
Alex Peavy (San Antonio – Smithson Valley) dished out three assists each.
The Lions outshot the Demons, 46.0 percent to 45.9 percent. Demarcus Sharp and Ja'Monta Block scored 18 points each for the Demons.
POST GAME INTERVIEW
UP NEXT
Two games await in the Field House for the Lions next weekend. They host New Orleans on Thursday at 8 p.m. for Hugo Cabrera Night and Southeastern on Senior Day at 4:30 p.m. on Saturday.
-TAMUC-
