Game 17: Northeastern State (4-12) vs. William Woods* (10-9) at 7 p.m. | January 15, 2018
Tahlequah, Okla. | NSU Event Center 
* Exhibition for William Woods
 

Live Stats	sidearmstats.com/nsuok/mbball/
Live Stats for Media	sidearmstats.com/nsuok/mbball/media
Live Audio	GoRiverHawksGo.com
Live Streaming Audio	portal.stretchinternet.com/nsu/
Live Streaming Video	TheMIAANetwork.com ($)
Play-by-Play	Bill Huddleston
	Northeastern State Game Notes

The Matchup
Northeastern State has not faced William Woods before and the contest is an exhibition for Owls, but counts for NSU.  The Owls have played one NCAA Division II school this season at Missouri S&T and lost 86-58 in Rolla, Mo. Similarly to Monday's game, that contest was an exhibition for William Woods.

The Coaches
Mark Downey was introduced as NSU's tenth men's basketball coach on April 11, 2017 and carries a 208-115 overall head coaching record, with four NCAA Division II Tournament Appearances, and has been named Coach of the Year six times.  Downey comes to NSU after two seasons at Fort Wayne (NCAA DI) as the program's top assistant on the bench, and has helped the Mastodons to appearances in the CollegeInsider.com Tournament (CIT) and the NIT, while going 44-23.  Prior to Fort Wayne, Downey spent the 2014-15 season at Bowling Green where they went 20-12, and he helped direct them into the second round of the CIT.

James Hays (10-9) is in his first year as head coach after serving as the Interim head coach during the 2016-17 season. Hays is the third head coach in history of the Owls Men's Basketball program, which was started in 2007.

Last Time Out for NSU
Jamir Andrews and Josh Bougher both had 20-point games to pace Northeastern State (4-12, 1-7 MIAA) for an 89-87 road win at Emporia State (8-8, 3-4 MIAA) on Saturday evening.  The win halted a ten game skid for the RiverHawks who have had close calls in the new calendar year of turning their fortunes around.  Andrews had 26 points which was three points short of his career high that he set at Oklahoma Baptist; Bougher dropped in 21 for the RiverHawks and surpassed his career high by four.  NSU spread their offense around against the Hornets with five in double-figures. Coryon Mason had 13, Montre' Williams with 11, and Trent Cantrell scored ten off of the bench.   

Last Time Out for WWU
William Woods won its second straight contest as they defeated the Trojans of Hannibal-LaGrange University, 72-57, on Saturday afternoon in American Midwest Conference action.  Leading the Owls was senior DaShaun Stark, who scored 27 points on 9-of-14 shooting.  The Owls hit eight threes in the contest; the second most the Owls have hit in a game this season. WWU shot 47.3 percent from the floor.

Marathon Men
Monday will be NSU's third contest in the last five days, after playing at Washburn and Emporia State in MIAA play.

20/20
For the first time since Jan. 25, 2017, the RiverHawks had two players [Jamir Andrews (26) and Josh Bougher (21)] with over 20-points in their 89-87 win at Emporia State.  Montre' Williams and Cameron Martin were the last pair for NSU to score over 20 in a game at Missouri Southern. 

Owl Watching
William Woods is 5-4 away from home with senior Dashaun Stark leading the Owls with 17.2 points a game.  Stark was All-Conference his junior season averaging 13.1 points an outing, and shooting 50.5-percent on the floor.  Prior to arriving at WWU he red-shirted at the University of Arkansas, and prior to that he played at Drury (NCAA Division II). The Owls average just over 73 points and 38 rebounds a game, while shooting 45.3-percent from the field.  At the arc, they are 33.7-percent, and average 5.8 three-pointers a game.

Up next
Northeastern State will head to Central Oklahoma to face the Bronchos in MIAA play on Saturday for a 3:30 p.m. tip-off.