TAHLEQUAH, Okla. – The Northeastern State men's basketball team grinded out a hard-fought 75-65 victory over Washburn Thursday night inside the NSU Event Center.
 
The RiverHawks (3-9, 2-6 MIAA) won their second-straight home game, while the Ichabods fell to 9-4 on the year and 5-3 in the league. The 65 points scored by Washburn was the first time an NSU opponent scored less than 70 this season. The RiverHawks are also now 6-2 all-time against the Ichabods and 3-0 all-time in Tahlequah.
 
The Ichabods entered the game tied for first place in the MIAA with just two losses this year in league play. They also defeated the No. 1 team in the nation on November 13 and were coming off back-to-back overtime victories last week.
 
Senior guard Trey Mohair paced the RiverHawks with 21 points, six assists and a career-high-tying five rebounds. This marked the 20th double-digit scoring effort of Mohair's career and his fourth game with at least 20 points. Junior guard KD Moore added 11 points and sophomore guard Montre' Williams contributed 10. Junior guard Braxton Williams hauled in 11 rebounds for the second time in three games. He also added six points, two steals and two assists.
 
Northeastern State connected on 33.8 percent (23-for-68) overall, 30.4 percent (7-for-23) from behind the 3-point line and 68.8 percent (22-for-32) at the free-throw line. Washburn was held to its second-worst shooting percentage of the season at 35.8 percent (19-for-53). The visitors also made just 18.2 percent (4-for-22) of their long-range shots and 62.2 percent (23-for-37) of their free throws. This was also Washburn's third-lowest point total of the year.
 
Cameron Wiggins led WU with 20 points, while the only other double-digit scoring effort came in the form of 10 points off the bench from Andy Wilson.
 
Northeastern State led 37-35 at halftime thanks in large part to a halfcourt buzzer beater from Montre' Williams. The shot gave the RiverHawks their first halftime lead of the season. They then held Washburn to just 30 points in the second half, which marked the fewest points scored against NSU this year in the final 20 minutes of play.
 
The RiverHawks dominated the glass by a 54-39 margin, which was the highest rebound total allowed by Washburn all season. NSU also posted its highest rebound output since Feb. 1, 2012 (Ecclesia). Northeastern State has now outrebounded its opponent by double-digit figures in each of the last two games (+11 against Northwest Missouri State on Jan. 4). The last such occurrence came all the way back on Dec. 8 & 10, 2009 against Hillsdale College and Texas A&M-Kingsville.
 
NSU led in assists (11-8), points in the paint (30-24), points off turnovers (16-15), bench production (32-18), second-chance points (16-11), steals (8-5) and fewer turnovers (12-15). WU led in blocks (6-2) and fast-break points (13-7).
 
Northeastern State will remain home for a 3:30 p.m. contest Jan. 9 against Emporia State.
 
NORTHEASTERN STATE COACH JASON TINSLEY
Opening statement...
"We found a way to win tonight. We just kept battling and battling. We were able to get stops when we needed to. The referees let us play a little bit in the second half. I was proud of our effort. We outrebounded them 54-39. I was concerned about that going in because they are a good rebounding team. Brady Skeens and Robert Christopher are both great rebounders. We had 30 points in the paint even though we missed a lot of shots down low. Overall I thought our effort was good."
 
On the performance of Braxton Williams…
"This is his fourth-straight game with at least seven rebounds. He's also had two games with 11 rebounds. I was picking on him a little bit after the game. I told him that he can't hit a bull on the butt with a bass fiddle (in reference to him shooting 1-for-7 from the field), but he can rebound. He can sure rebound."
 
On putting together a complete effort…
"As a team we're just trying to find ways to put the whole thing together for 40 minutes. Our best 40 minutes of basketball was against Central Oklahoma. We have some games where we shoot the ball well, but we allow the other team to shoot better and we turn the ball over too much. Then we have other games where we don't turn the ball over, but we can't shoot and get outrebounded. We just need to get to a place where we can put together 40 minutes of basketball so we can give ourselves a chance to beat people. We didn't shoot well tonight, but we guarded them and we took care of the ball for the most part. We outrebounded them by 15. We did a much better job at the free-throw line in the second half."
 
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