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TAHLEQUAH, Okla. – The Northeastern State men's basketball team (17-6, 10-5 MIAA) heads to Pittsburg, Kan., with three games to go in the regular season for a 3:30 p.m. meeting Feb. 16 against Pittsburg State (14-7, 7-6 MIAA) inside John Lance Arena.
 
The contest will be the return leg of the series, as NSU defeated PSU 64-62 Jan. 23 in Tahlequah. The two squads are tied 4-4 since the RiverHawks joined the NCAA in 1996-97. The two squads split a series last year, and the Gorillas posted a 3-2 record in the five meetings between the 1997-98 season to the 2001-02 campaign.
 
PSU was selected in the preseason MIAA coaches poll to finish fourth in the league, while NSU was picked 14th.

Northeastern State's Probable Starters
F	10	Landon DeMasters	6-4, 200	So-RS	7.2 ppg, 2.6 rpg	Van Alstyne, Texas
F	15	Marcus Sheppard	6-4, 205	Jr-TR	6.2 ppg, 3.3 rpg	Vivian, La.
F	21	Jermaine Bransford	6-7, 225	Sr-1L	15.7 ppg, 9.7 rpg	Sand Springs, Okla.
G	3	Bryton Hobbs	6-0, 170	Jr-TR	18.3 ppg, 4.9 apg	St. Louis, Mo.
G	20	Ethan Anderson	6-3, 205	Sr-3L	11.0 ppg, 4.0 rpg	Cleburne, Texas
Pittsburg State's Probable Starters
F	20	A.J. Adams	6-6, 210	Jr-TR	9.4 ppg, 4.7 rpg	Wichita, Kan.
F	34	Rico Pierrevilus	6-7, 240	Sr-1L	9.1 ppg, 6.1 rpg	West Palm Beach, Fla.
G	1	Jake Bullard	6-5, 190	Fr-HS	5.3 ppg, 2.1 rpg	Cleora, Okla.
G	3	Kaleb Porter	5-11, 170	Fr-HS	13.6 ppg, 2.9 rpg	Tulsa, Okla.
G	15	Marky Nolen	6-4, 200	Sr-1L	10.0 ppg, 5.2 rpg	Wichita, Kan.

SCOUTING THE GORILLAS
Pittsburg State is 14-7 overall and 7-6 in the MIAA. The team is in eighth place in the league standings and controls its own destiny to host a first-round playoff game. The Gorillas have toggled back and forth between wins and losses over the last seven games, and they lost at home to Southwest Baptist (81-75) in their most-recent outing. The squad is led in scoring by freshman Kaleb Porter, who is dropping 13.6 ppg. JaVon McGee averages 12.4 ppg and leads the team in rebounding at 7.4 rpg. Courtney Ingram (11.3 ppg) and Marky Nolen (10.0 ppg) also score in dougle figures.
 
WHERE THEY STAND
Northeastern State currently owns a 10-5 record in its first season in the MIAA. The RiverHawks sit in fourth in the league table and stand a half game behind Fort Hays State and Central Missouri (10-4) for first place. Washburn is in third at 9-4. NSU was selected to finish 14th in the conference this season by both the media and the league coaches.
 
BRANSFORD WINS SECOND WEEKLY HONOR
Jermaine Bransford was named the MIAA Men's Basketball Athlete of the Week Jan. 28, joining Washburn's Will McNeill as the only two-time winners of the award this season. This also marked the second-straight week a member of the RiverHawks won athlete of the week honors, as junior guard Bryton Hobbs earned his first-career laurel Jan. 21. Bransford used two double-doubles and a career performance to power Northeastern State to a perfect 2-0 week. He began with 19 points and a game-high 11 rebounds in NSU's win over Pittsburg State Jan. 23, and he then posted a game-high 20 points and a career-high 17 rebounds on the road against Missouri Southern State Jan. 26. For the week, Bransford recorded 19.5 points and 14.0 boards per game. He also dished out six assists and only turned the ball over twice in 74 minutes of action. He shot 55 percent (17-for-31) from the field and was a perfect 5-for-5 at the free-throw line. He also helped hold Missouri Southern State to a season-low 54 points.
 
HOBBS SNAGS WEEKLY MIAA ACCOLADE
Bryton Hobbs was honored as the MIAA Men's Basketball Athlete of the Week on Jan. 21. The junior guard led Northeastern State to a 2-0 mark, which included a road triumph over rival Central Oklahoma and a home win over No. 10 Washburn. He averaged 22 points per game and made 27 of 30 free-throw attempts (90 percent). He played 79 of a possible 80 minutes over the two-game stretch, and he recorded a career-high four steals against UCO and seven assists against the Ichabods. He scored 19 points against Central Oklahoma, had five rebounds and went 13-for-13 from the free-throw line. He dropped 25 points and knocked down three treys against the No. 10-ranked Ichabods.
 
THE DOUBLE-DOUBLE MACHINE
Senior forward Jermaine Bransford entered 2012-13 with just one double-digit rebounding effort and no career double doubles. He recorded his first double-double with 22 points and 11 rebounds Dec. 5 against Emporia State, and he now has reached at least 10 points and 10 rebounds in 12 of his last 17 games. He also has near double-doubles against Arkansas Tech (eight points, 12 boards), Northwestern Oklahoma State (31 points, nine boards), Harding (12 points, eight rebounds), and Central Oklahoma (22 points, nine rebounds). Over his last 16 games, Bransford is averaging 17.1 ppg (274 total points) and 10.8 rpg (173 total rebounds). He leads the MIAA in rebounding this season with 9.7 rpg.
 
BRILLIANT BRYTON
Northeastern State received a welcomed addition in the offseason in junior transfer Bryton Hobbs. The guard from St. Louis, Mo., has come to Tahlequah via both Pratt Community College and Cowley College. He has taken the MIAA by storm in his first season with the RiverHawks, as he is currently the league's second-leading scorer at 18.3 ppg, and he is fifth in assists with 4.9 dimes a night.
 
IN THE LEAGUE
Northeastern State leads the MIAA in three statistical categories this year. The team is the league leader in free-throw percentage (.769), field goal percentage (.487) and three point field-goal percentage defense (.313). The team is also second in three-point field goal percentage (.391).
 
FROM THE FIELD
The RiverHawks have posted great shooting percentages this season, making 49 percent of their attempts from the field (584-1,200), 39 percent from downtown (158-404) and 77 percent from the free-throw line (352-458). Of those with at least 30 attempts, sophomore forward Landon DeMasters leads the team in shooting percentage (46-83, .554) and senior guard Jon Miller is the team leader in three-point percentage (27-64, .422).
 
NSU's GIPSON IN 16TH SEASON
NSU's Larry Gipson (Heidelberg College, '74) is in his 16th season as the RiverHawks head coach. The long-time leader of the men's basketball program enters the year with a 262-185 record over his illustrious career at NSU. He is returning to the bench after having missed most of the 2011-12 season with an illness. Gipson is second all-time in school history behind only Jack Dobbins (314 wins) in career wins, and his .578 winning percentage is the best in school history. He reached the 100- and 200-win milestones faster than any other coach in school history. Gipson has posted eight winning seasons in his time at NSU, and those include five 20-win campaigns and a national championship in 2002-03 (32-3 record).
            Gipson was inducted into the NSU Athletic Hall of Fame in 2004. He and Nolan Richardson are the only two head coaches ever to lead teams to a national championship at both the NCAA and NJCAA level. Gipson, Richardson and Ray Harper (NCAA D-II, NAIA) are the only three coaches in college basketball history to win national titles at two different levels. Gipson began his college coaching career as a graduate assistant at the University of Tulsa under Richardson. Gipson has won three national coach of the year honors throughout his career. He was named the 2003 Division II Coach of the Year by the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC), he earned the 2003 Molten/Division II Bulletin Coach of the Year award and he was also the 1989 NABC national junior college coach of the year. He was appointed by his peers as the President of the Board of the Directors for the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) in April 2012.
 
NORTHEASTERN STATE CELEBRATING 10-YEAR ANNIVERSARY OF NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP
The RiverHawks are celebrating the 10-year anniversary of their historic national championship run from the 2002-03 campaign. The team posted a school-record 32 wins to just three losses that season and defeated Kentucky Wesleyan 75-64 on March 29 in Lakeland, Fla., to earn the first and only men's basketball national championship in Northeastern State history. Four different RiverHawks averaged 10 points per game that season, led by Jon Shepherd's 14.6 ppg average. Reggie Battee was the top rebounder at 6.2 rpg, and Darnell Hinson led NSU at 4.1 assists per game.
 
ONE FINAL YEAR
The 2012-13 campaign marks the last in Jack Dobbins Field House. The field house has served as the home of NSU basketball since the 1954-55 season, and Northeastern State will move into its new home beginning in 2013-14. The $14.4 million event center has yet to be named and is currently under construction. The new home of RiverHawks basketball will seat 3,000 and will be located adjacent to Doc Wadley Stadium on the north side of the NSU campus.
 
MIAA CHAMPIONSHIP IN KC
The 2013 MIAA Men's Basketball Championship is set to take place inside Municipal Auditorium in Kansas City, Mo. The top 12 teams in the regular season all qualify for postseason play, with the top four earning byes to Kansas City. The first round will be contested at host sites March 4, with the fifth seed hosting No. 12, the sixth seed hosting No. 11, etc. Those four winners will join the top four seeds in KC March 7-10.
 
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