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BOLIVAR, Mo. – The Northeastern State men's basketball team lost 79-68 to Southwest Baptist Thursday evening inside Meyer Sports Center.

The RiverHawks, playing their second game in a row against a school with a Bearcat mascot (Northwest Missouri State), dropped to 3-10 on the season and 1-5 in MIAA play. Southwest Baptist improved to 8-7 on the year and 3-3 in the MIAA.

NSU was led by junior guard Trey Mohair, who scored a career- and game-high 18 points, which included a career-high nine made free throws. Senior forward Landon DeMasters finished with 11 points, going 4-for-5 from the field and 2-for-3 from beyond the arc in 16 minutes.  

Northeastern State took a 2-0 lead on a C.J. Winzer bucket 49 seconds into the game and remained on top until midway through the second half. The RiverHawks led by as many as 12 points in the first half before taking a 37-29 lead at halftime.

The Bearcats went on a 22-11 run to begin the second half and took the lead with 8:58 remaining in the game, 49-48. SBU outscored the RiverHawks 50-31 in the second half to earn the 11-point victory.

NSU shot 42.3 percent (22-for-52) from the field, 28.6 percent (6-for-21) from behind the arc and 75 percent (18-for-24) at the line. SBU shot 44.0 percent (22-for-50) from the field, 36.4 percent (8-for-22) from 3-point range and 65.9 percent (27-for-41) from the charity stripe.

Patrick Burke led the Bearcats with 16 points. Quinton Smith added 15 points.  

Southwest Baptist outrebounded the RiverHawks 41-26. NSU held the edge in second-chance points 11-6.

Northeastern State will stay on the road to take on Missouri Southern State at 3 p.m. Jan. 10 in Joplin, Missouri.
 
NORTHEASTERN STATE COACH JASON TINSLEY
Initial statement…
"I thought we played much better tonight than we did on Monday (against Northwest Missouri State). We shot it well in the first half. We've got to do a better job rebounding the basketball. We gave up 16 offensive rebounds. We got outrebounded 41-26 and (Southwest Baptist) shot the ball 54 percent in the second half. I can think of several points that were off of their offensive rebounds. We did some good things tonight. We had our chances. We had some open shots and didn't knock them down. We've got to get ready for Saturday now. Nobody is going to feel sorry for us, so we've got to go out and try to win a basketball game. Our margin for error is so thin, we've got to rebound well, we've got to shoot well and we've got to take care of the ball. They scored 19 points off our turnovers tonight. I thought our effort was good tonight, I thought our attitude was good. I thought there were some positives to this game."
 
On leading at halftime…
"We played a really good first half. Now we've got to put two halves together. We came out in the second half and (SBU) made a run. We made the first basket of the second half and didn't make another field goal until the 12-minute mark. It is hard to overcome that."
 
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