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TAHLEQUAH, Okla. – The Northeastern State men's basketball team got on the board in MIAA play with an 86-65 victory over Lindenwood Saturday afternoon inside the NSU Event Center.
 
The RiverHawks (2-6, 1-1 MIAA) snapped a five-game losing streak in the most complete effort of the young campaign. The Lions (4-4, 0-2 MIAA) fell back to .500 on the season after dropping their second in a row.
 
NSU shot 87.5 percent from behind the 3-point line (14-for-16), which broke a school record that had stood since 1998 (highest 3-point field-goal percentage in a single game). The team also shot 57.8 percent (26-for-45) overall and 66.7 percent (20-for-30) at the free-throw line.
 
LWU shot 33.3 percent (16-for-48) from the field, 33.3 percent (8-for-24) from distance and 78.1 percent (25-for-32) at the line. Lindenwood's 65 points and 33.3 percent field-goal shooting were both the fewest allowed by NSU this season. The field-goal percentage was also the lowest posted by the Lions since Feb. 9, 2013.  
 
Saturday's victory marked the first time this season that the RiverHawks outshot an opponent from the field. They also led in rebounding (32-31) for the second-straight game and posted advantages in assists (16-13), points in the paint (16-12), points off turnovers (17-12) and bench points (32-25).
 
Senior guard Michael Harmon continued his torrid start to the season. He scored a game-high 30 points on 10-of-14 shooting. He was also 6-for-7 from downtown and chipped in four assists and one rebound in 37 minutes. This was the second time he reached the 30-point plateau this year.
 
Junior guard Demone Harrison poured in 16 points, junior forward Dakota Caudill added 12 and senior forward Landon DeMasters scored 10.
 
Cory Arentsen led the Lions with 16 points, while Garrett Reeg added 13 for the visitors.
 
Northeastern State fell behind 13-11 in the early going, but the RiverHawks used a bevy of 3's to mount a 14-2 run. Lindenwood got back to within seven points with seven minutes remaining in the first half, but NSU again made it rain from deep to pull ahead 50-30.
 
The Lions were able to cut into the deficit before halftime, and Northeastern State took a 54-40 lead into the break. The 54 points marked a season-best first-half total for the RiverHawks. The previous season high was 40 against Harding.
 
Northeastern State led by as many as 25 points in the second half, and the team cruised to the 21-point victory.
 
The RiverHawks held Lindenwood to just 25 second-half points, which was the fewest NSU has conceded in either half all season.
 
Northeastern State is set to take two weeks off before heading to northern Missouri for a pair of league contests. The RiverHawks will first meet Missouri Western State at 7:30 p.m. Dec. 18 before prepping for their nationally-televised contest against Central Missouri. NSU will play the defending national champions at 10 a.m. Dec. 20 on the CBS Sports Network.

NORTHEASTERN STATE COACH JASON TINSLEY
Opening statement...
"I thought we played pretty efficiently. Obviously, we shot the ball really well and that cures a lot of ills. There are three things that we try to emphasize for each game: push the ball up the floor fast and get a great shot, keep the other team from getting a great shot and outrebound the other team. It's pretty simplistic. Today, we did all three of those. We did a much better job in the second half of challenging shots and disrupting them offensively than we did in the first half."
 
On extending the lead in the second half...
"We had to keep doing the things that got us to the lead. If you play based on what the scoreboard says, eventually that's going to come back and haunt you. You have to play against the game, not the clock. We just tried to make it tough for (Lindenwood) to get scores. We moved the ball and made them work to guard us. I did not want to see the lead disappear and I told them that. They worked hard to keep it."
 
On Michael Harmon...
"We've said all along that for us to win we have to get scoring out of Mike Harmon and Demone Harrison. Then we need somebody else to step up and have a good game for us. Dakota [Caudill] had 12 for us and Landon [DeMasters] had 10. So if we can Demone and Mike going and then get somebody else to be in double-figures for us, we have a chance. Mike is hard to guard off the dribble. He shot the ball really well. Not only did he score 30 points but he had a good percentage."
 
-GoRiverHawksGo.com-