TAHLEQUAH, Okla. – The Northeastern State men's basketball team dropped a 97-86 decision to Arkansas-Fort Smith Saturday evening inside the NSU Event Center.
 
The RiverHawks fell to 1-2 on the young season, while the Lions improved to 3-1.
 
Senior guard Trey Mohair poured in a career-high 22 points off the bench, while adding five rebounds and three assists. He was 10-for-10 at the free-throw line. True freshman guard Peyton Pratt tallied 13 points, while senior forward Dakota Caudill added 11 and junior guard Mytaa'h Crawford scored 10.
 
NSU shot 36.6 percent (26-for-71) from the field, 31 percent (9-for-29) from downtown and 75.8 percent (25-for-33) at the free-throw line. Arkansas-Fort Smith shot 49.1 percent (28-for-57) overall, 38.1 percent (8-for-21) from behind the 3-point arc and 73.3 percent (33-for-45) at the charity stripe.
 
All five UAFS starters scored in double figures, led by 19 from Dusan Stojanovic. Kenny Martin scored 17, Seth Youngblood added 15, DaVaunta Thomas posted 11 and Alex Cooper tallied 10.
 
NSU had lost to UAFS by an average of 40 points each of the last two years but was able to cut the gap between the two programs down to just 11 points in this season's edition.
 
The Lions led 42-39 at halftime, but NSU was able to draw level at 52-52 with 15:33 left to play. From that point on, however, it was all UAFS. The visitors used a 34-8 run over the next 10 minutes to take an insurmountable 26-point lead. Northeastern State fought and was able to cut the lead to single digits momentarily, but the green and white would get no closer than nine points.
 
The RiverHawks will now prepare for a second-straight home tilt against Rogers State. The contest is scheduled to tip at 7:30 p.m. Nov. 24.
 
NORTHEASTERN STATE COACH JASON TINSLEY
Opening statement...
"We played a really good first half considering all the foul trouble we were in. I thought we did a good job of hanging around. We started the second half well, but we had multiple missed shots and turnovers from about the 12-minute mark going forward. We looked like we had not practiced a zone offense in our lives. We didn't get in the gaps with the ball. We made goofy passes. We dug ourselves in a 26-point hole and spent the remainder of the game trying to climb out of it. You can't spot a team like this 26 points and expect to win. To our credit, we kept fighting and were able to chip it down to single digits."
 
On how they operated against the zone defense…
"We had too much passing around the shell of the zone and dribbling side to side. The only time we drove the ball is when we told them to, and when they did they got fouled. Our players shouldn't need me to tell them to drive it."
 
On the positives from the game…
"We had a push in the rebounding category, which is good for us. One of our goals this year is to be plus 1 in rebounding every game because we averaged minus-10 last year. We forced 25 turnovers. That's a good sign. We took 71 shots to their 57."
 
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