MARYVILLE, Mo. – The Northeastern State men's basketball team dropped a narrow 78-74 road decision to Northwest Missouri State Monday night inside Bearcat Arena.

NSU fell to 2-9 on the year and 1-6 in the MIAA, while NWMSU improved to 9-4 overall and 6-2 in the league.
 
Senior forward Dakota Caudill tallied a career-high 24 points while adding six rebounds in 27 minutes. Senior guard Trey Mohair poured in 18 points and fellow senior guard Killven Samuel added 12 off the bench. Samuel registered just four points total in the first half of the season and has erupted for 28 in his last two games.
 
NSU converted 50 percent (31-for-62) of its field-goal attempts, while shooting 33.3 percent (6-for-18) from behind the 3-point line and 46.2 percent (6-for-13) at the free-throw line. NWMSU shot 45.1 percent (23-for-51) overall, 44 percent (11-for-25) from distance and 75 percent (21-for-28) at the line.
 
Justin Pitts paced the Bearcats with 21 points, seven assists and six rebounds. Conner Crooker added 16, Zach Schneider netted 13 and Chris-Ebou Ndow tallied 11.
 
The RiverHawks dominated the glass by a 38-27 margin. NSU also led in assists (13-12), blocks (5-0), points in the paint (42-24), and bench production (27-12). Northwest Missouri State led in steals (7-2), points off turnovers (16-10) and fewer turnovers (8-11).
 
Northeastern State will return to the NSU Event Center for a 7:30 p.m. contest Jan. 7 against Washburn.
 
-GoRiverHawksGo.com-