TAHLEQUAH – Northeastern State could not recover from an 18-point halftime deficit and fell 92-69 on Saturday to Southwest Baptist in MIAA play.

The Bearcats had a hot hand on the floor with 65.9-percent shooting against the RiverHawks who played a more even second half against SBU and trailed them 44-39 in the final 20 minutes.

Tanner Mouse sank a career high five three pointers against the Bearcats to lead the RiverHawks on Saturday with 18 points off the bench.  The NSU junior matched his career high in points, which he set last season at Lincoln.

Josh Bougher had 14 points and Jamir Andrews also hit double-figures for NSU with ten.

In the rebounding battle, NSU had a season low 21 against SBU with the Bearcats grabbing 41 on their end of the court.

In the first half NSU could not slow down the Bearcats' offense and they shot 81-percent (17-21) and driving down seven three pointers.  The RiverHawks would lead 14-7 through the first official timeout but Southwest Baptist would go on a 22-3 run to take control of the half.  Offensively, Northeastern State shot 30.3-percent (10-33) with Bougher having nine points.

With damage done already, NSU never could get a sustainable run on the Bearcats.  Northeastern State's best effort was nine unanswered points in the later minutes to trim a SBU 30-point advantage back down.

The RiverHawks finished the evening going 35-percent on the floor on 21-for-60 shooting, they would make a season high 14 treys against the Bearcats who go to 5-4 overall and are 1-1 in the MIAA.

Northeastern State (3-7, 0-4 MIAA) will be off until Dec. 19 where they will host Arkansas Tech in non-conference play at 6 p.m.