NATCHITOCHES, La. – Scooter Williams Jr.'s 18 points were not enough as the East Texas A&M University men's basketball team battled back from being down 18 to come within six but fell 75-67 to the Northwestern State Demons on Saturday afternoon at Prather Coliseum.
 
The Demons scored the first two points of the game, but the Lions answered on the other end with a three-pointer from Williams Jr. (Chattanooga, Tenn.). The two teams combined to scored just five points through the first five minutes.
 
At the 16:18 mark of the first half, the Demons trailed 3-2, but went on a 7-0 run to jump ahead and did not trail again in the game. The Lions went without a point for nearly five minutes during the stretch.
 
The Demons had a lead as big as 15 in the first half, though the Lions did get it down within single digits on a pair of 6-0 runs. Northwestern State led 38-24 at the half, shooting 46.4 percent from the field, 5 for 14 from outside and 7 for 8 at the line. The Lions shot 34.4 in the first half, going 1 for 11 from deep, and 1 for 6 at the line.
 
Northwestern State built out an 18-point lead at the 17:39 mark of the second half, but the Lions used a 6-0 run to come all the way within six at the 6:13 mark. Following a called timeout, the Demons hit back-to-back threes to build back a 12-point lead.
 
The Lions got the deficit down to six multiple times in the second half, but were not able to cut into the Demon lead any further. East Texas A&M outscored Northwestern State 43-37 in the second half, shooting 53.1 percent, while the Demons shot 47.6 percent.
 
Williams Jr. (Chattanooga, Tenn.) led the Lions with 18 points on 7 for 12 shooting, while Chris Adlam (Houston Christian) added 10 points of the bench as did Demarco Bethea (Sellars, S.C.), who also had team-best seven rebounds.
 
Northwestern State's Micah Thomas had game-high 25 points for Northwestern State, Jon Sanders added 12, Addison Patterson scored 11, and Willie Williams ended the game with 10, recording 10 rebounds as well. The Demons had the 39-33 edge in rebounding.
 
The Lions fall to 2-14 on the season and 0-5 in Southland Conference play, while the Demons improve to 6-8 overall and 3-1 in conference play. Northwestern State is 3-0 against East Texas A&M in Natchitoches over the last three seasons.

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The Lions head down to UTRGV on Monday to face the Vaqueros at 6:30 p.m.