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MARVILLE, Mo. – The Northeastern State men's basketball team fell 85-65 to Northwest Missouri State Monday night inside Bearcat Arena in a battle for first place in the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association.
 
The Bearcats (11-5, 6-1 MIAA) took over first place in the league standings, while the RiverHawks (10-4, 5-2 MIAA) moved out of at least a share of first for the first time this season.
 
Northwest Missouri State led by a wide margin in almost every statistical category, including rebounding (40-20), assists (16-10), steals (5-3), points in the paint (32-18), points off turnovers (15-9), and bench points (39-8).
 
NSU shot 44 percent (22-for-50) from the field, 41.7 percent (10-for-24) from downtown and 73.3 percent (11-for-15) at the free-throw line. NWMSU shot 52.8 percent (28-for-53) from the field, 47.8 percent (11-for-23) from distance and 64.3 percent (18-for-28) at the line.
 
Senior guard Bryton Hobbs led the RiverHawks with 16 points, while junior guard Dalen Qualls chipped in 15 and senior forward Marcus Sheppard added 10 before fouling out.
 
Conner Crooker paced five Bearcats in double figures with 20 points on 8-of-11 shooting. Zach Schneider finished with 19 points off the bench after connecting on 5 of 8 from downtown. DeShaun Cooper added 12, and both Dillon Starzl and Grant Cozad contributed 11 points for the home side.
 
Northeastern State quickly fell behind 8-2, but the visitors were able to take their first lead of 15-14 at the 8:11 mark.
 
NSU even led 21-17 at one point, but the home team ventured on a 16-3 run to close the half and take a 33-24 advantage into the break.
 
From the final 5:57 of the first half to the first 6:43 of the second, the Bearcats outscored the RiverHawks 40-14 and never looked back to earn the blowout victory.
 
NSU will return home for a 7:30 p.m. tip Jan. 16 with Nebraska-Kearney.
 
Scoring Summary
Northeastern State               24        41         65
NW Missouri State               33        52         85
 
NORTHEASTERN STATE COACH LARRY GIPSON
Opening Statement…
"We lost to a very good team tonight. I'm not disappointed so much in that we lost, but more in how we lost. (Northwest Missouri) ate us up with their physicality and size. We didn't have an answer for that. We also gave them open opportunities on the perimeter, which they were able to knock down. They shot the ball incredibly well. We are not a very good defensive team right now. We don't understand defensive rotations and we don't fully understand how hard you have to play on every single possession against the quality of teams in this league. Our offense is good enough to win games, but our defense is very poor."
 
On the travel or playing three games in five days having an effect on the performance…
"That might have had something to do with it, but we just got back from an extended break. This was the hand we were dealt and there's nothing we can do about it. Northwest Missouri had the same deal, and it didn't seem to bother them."
 
On the team…
"We've got a good group of kids that are competitive on one end of the floor, but they're not determined enough on defense. With Landon (DeMasters) out, we only have two players in Bryton (Hobbs) and Marcus (Sheppard) who have any experience playing in this league. We have too many players who are making too many costly mistakes. We need to find a way to fight through that. We are going to take tomorrow off and try to let our kids rest a little bit. They started back in school today, so we are going to get back in that groove. Hopefully we can have a good practice Wednesday and come out ready to go on Thursday. Every team goes through these things. We're being tested right now, and we just have to fight through the adversity."
 
-GoRiverHawksGo.com-