Box Score

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PITTSBURG, Kan. – The Northeastern State men's basketball team fell 73-63 to Pittsburg State Wednesday night inside John Lance Arena.
 
The RiverHawks (11-8, 6-6 MIAA) lost their fourth in a row and have now dropped six of their last seven games. The Gorillas (7-10, 3-7 MIAA) earned a much-needed victory in league play.
 
Senior guard Bryton Hobbs led NSU with 18 points and nine assists. Junior guard Dalen Qualls added 16 points, and junior forward Curtis Evans contributed 15 points.
 
Northeastern State shot 37.3 percent (22-for-59) from the field, 29 percent (9-for-31) from behind the three-point line, and 76.9 percent (10-for-13) at the free-throw line. PSU shot 44.2 percent (23-for-52) from the field, 38.1 percent (8-for-21) from downtown and 76 percent (19-for-25) at the charity stripe.
 
Devon Branch led all scorers with 23 points, Jake Bullard added 16 points and Connor Kjer chipped in nine points and 10 rebounds.
 
Pittsburg State took a 42-32 lead into intermission, and both teams scored 31 points in the second half as PSU earned the 10-point win. NSU was able to cut the deficit down to three points with 7:26 to play, but the Gorillas used a 13-2 to get back up by double digits and avoid the home upset.
 
Northeastern State returns home to face rival Central Oklahoma at 7:30 p.m. Feb. 6 inside the NSU Event Center.
 
Scoring Summary
Northeastern State              32        31        63
Pittsburg State                     42        31        73
 
NORTHEASTERN STATE COACH LARRY GIPSON
Opening Statement…
"I think our effort was better tonight. Our performance was better, but we didn't get the result we wanted. We had too many empty possessions when we needed to make a play. We had (Pittsburg State) reeling a little bit late, but we couldn't find a way to make the plays or catch the basketball when we needed to. We really hurt ourselves with the number of offensive rebounds we gave up, but I thought the effort was better tonight."
 
On Pitt State opening up a big lead late in the first half…
"We had one spurt from about six minutes (left in the first half) to the two-minute mark where they went up double digits on us. That was essentially the ballgame, because we were fighting our way out of that hole for the entire second half."
 
On the week off before playing Central Oklahoma…
"This is going to be a much-needed break. January has been a miserable month for us. I saw some positive signs tonight. We need to come in and have a good week of practice, and hopefully in February we can turn it around a little bit."
 
-GoRiverHawksGo.com-