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TAHLEQUAH, Okla. – The Northeastern State men's basketball team upset No. 10 Washburn 85-78 Saturday evening inside Jack Dobbins Field House.
The RiverHawks (12-4, 5-3 MIAA) made a season-high 13 three-point field goals on just 18 attempts for a scorching 72 percent. The last time NSU hit at least 13 trey's in a single game was against Harding on Nov. 20, 2010.
NSU also shot 58 percent from the field (22-for-38) and made 80 percent from the free-throw line (28-for-35). The team has now made a whopping 59 shots from the charity stripe in the last two games.
Junior guard
Bryton Hobbs dropped 25 points and added seven assists in 39 minutes of work. He finished 14-for-17 from the free-throw line.
Senior forward
Jermaine Bransford recorded his seventh double-double of the season with 10 points and 12 rebounds. Senior guards
Ethan Anderson and
Jon Miller combined for 30 points and made 7-for-8 from downtown.
Washburn (10-4, 3-3 MIAA) gave up the second-most points all season after entering the contest allowing just 62.2 points a game. The team also recorded a season-low in rebounds after NSU won that battle, 25-20.
The Ichabods held the advantage for the opening few minutes of the contest, but NSU powered ahead 16-10 with 13:05 remaining in the opening half. The two teams jockeyed for position and exchanged leads 10 times in the first 20 minutes, and Washburn took a 32-31 lead into intermission.
Northeastern State used a 7-0 run early in the second half to take a four-point lead, and the team would not relinquish the advantage for the remainder of the game. A 13-3 run in the middle of the second half would be enough cushion to fend off the top-10 foe.
The Northeastern State women also upset the No. 9-ranked Lady Blues 52-43 earlier in the day. The last time Washburn was swept on the same day was to Emporia State on Feb. 23, 2011.
The RiverHawks will stay at home for a 7:30 p.m. matchup Jan. 23 with Pittsburg State.
NORTHEASTERN STATE HEAD COACH LARRY GIPSON
On some keys to the game…
”I thought we were better defensively in the second half. Late in the game we fouled them too much. We didn't make some defensive plays the way we needed to, but that's an excellent win. That is the best basketball team we have played this year.”
On the team shooting performance…
“Our squad was very balanced. We moved the ball very well in the second half. We made them chase the ball and chase us as opposed to them being able to focus on where the ball was.”
On the difficult challenge waiting against Pittsburg State Wednesday…
“This league reminds me of the Big Ten or Big East at the Division I level in terms of how balanced everyone is from top to bottom. You can enjoy a win like this over a top 10 team for about 12 hours, but then you have to get refocused. We need to be a mature team. The last time we won a couple of games in a row we weren't very mature with it. We need to be a mature team and get ourselves refocused.”
-GoRiverHawksGo.com-
