TAHLEQUAH – Montre' Williams scored 21 points to carry Northeastern State to a 55-41 win on Wednesday night to open MIAA play at the NSU Event Center.
 
The 41 points NSU held Missouri Western State to was a four-year low for the RiverHawks program and the fewest points by a MIAA school since Lindenwood was held by that same number on Jan. 13, 2016 at Central Missouri.
 
"We made it tough for them (Missouri Western) to get good looks," said head coach Jason Tinsley.  "This was the first time all year that we out-rebounded our opponent...we have not been a good rebounding team so far this year so we have really been stressing and hammering it in that we need to rebound the basketball."
 
"We got good efforts out of a lot of the guys…wins are hard to come by in this league, we're glad to get this one and now we start to get ready for UCO."  
 
Karon Waller was NSU's second leading scorer with 15 points and he had seven rebounds, Cameron Martin also hit double-figures with 11 points and he had three assists. 
 
Braxton Williams had a game high nine rebounds and NSU won on the glass 38-to-33 over Missouri Western State. 
 
A 13-2 run by the RiverHawks broke an early lead by Missouri Western where NSU went up 23-14 with four minutes remaining in the half.  Montre' Williams gave NSU 13 points and only missed one shot on six attempts to give the RiverHawks a 25-21 lead into the locker room.
 
The RiverHawks continued to hold onto a two possession advantage through the first part of the second half until the Griffons and scored six straight to take a 37-34 lead with 8:17 left. Waller snapped NSU back with a trey and Martin sank a jumper to retake a 38-37 advantage with 6:34 remaining.  NSU continued to pull ahead with MWSU only making one shot for the remainder of the contest.
 
Northeastern State shot 34-percent (17-50) from the field with seven treys, Missouri Western was held to 28.6-percent (14-49) on their side of the floor.
 
The Griffons did not have a player in double-figures with Aaron Emmanuel having a team high nine points.
 
Wednesday's win will move the RiverHawks to 2-4 overall and 1-0 in MIAA play, MWSU falls to 1-6 and 0-1 in the MIAA.
 
Northeastern State will travel to Edmond on Saturday to face Central Oklahoma at 3:30 p.m. 
 
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE 
- Fewest allowed points for an NSU team since Jan. 20, 2010 in Jack Dobbins Fieldhouse against Southeastern Oklahoma (45-40 win).
- Eighth straight game in double-figures for Montre' Williams.
- MWSU outscored the RiverHawks on turnovers 20-to-11.
- First time since playing Ecclesia on Nov. 19, 2012 that the RiverHawks held a team to under 45 points.
 
MO. WESTERN (1-6 (0-1 MIAA))
Emmanuel,Aaron 3-9 3-4 9; Bonifas,Seth 2-3 3-3 7; Hamilton,Joe 2-7 0-0 6; Baker,Beau 2-5 0-0 5; Clearman,Cole 2-8 1-1 5; Evans,TJ 1-11 2-2 4; Rajovic,Boris 1-3 1-2 3; Jones,Jason 1-2 0-0 2; Mesmacque,Jonathan 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 14-49 10-12 41.
 
NORTHEASTERN STATE (2-4 (1-0 MIAA))
Williams, Montre' 7-11 3-4 21; Waller, Karon 4-12 6-6 15; Martin, Cameron 4-12 2-2 11; Williams, Tyler 1-5 0-0 3; Broadnax, Erick 1-2 0-0 2; Wallace, Javon 0-2 2-2 2; Williams, Braxton 0-3 1-2 1; Keyhea, Russell 0-2 0-0 0; Hill, Gordon 0-0 0-0 0; Turner, Juvon 0-0 0-0 0; Mouse, Tanner 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 17-50 14-16 55.
 
Mo. Western...................   21   20  -   41
Northeastern State............   25   30  -   55
 
3-point goals--Mo. Western 3-15 (Hamilton,Joe 2-4; Baker,Beau 1-1; Clearman,Cole 0-3; Evans,TJ 0-5; Mesmacque,Jonathan 0-1; Emmanuel,Aaron 0-1), Northeastern State 7-21 (Williams, Montre' 4-6; Williams, Tyler 1-2; Martin, Cameron 1-5; Waller, Karon 1-5; Mouse, Tanner 0-1; Williams, Braxton 0-2).
Fouled out--Mo. Western-None, Northeastern State-None.
Rebounds--Mo. Western 33 (Evans,TJ 6), Northeastern State 38 (Williams, Braxton 9).
Assists--Mo. Western 9 (Clearman,Cole 2; Evans,TJ 2; Emmanuel,Aaron 2), Northeastern State 8 (Mouse, Tanner 4).
Total fouls--Mo. Western 24, Northeastern State 14.
Technical fouls--Mo. Western-None, Northeastern
State-None. A-732