TAHLEQUAH – Lucas Antunez's career night powered the RiverHawks to a 78-48 win over Missouri Southern at the NSU Event Center on Wednesday evening.  Northeastern State (6-13, 2-8 MIAA) throttled the Lions (12-8, 7-4 MIAA) in the second half scoring 22 unanswered points for RiverHawks' largest margin of victory between the two programs.

Antunez only played 18 minutes off the NSU bench and was nearly flawless on each shot, making seven of his nine attempts.  The NSU senior paced all scorers on the floor with 22 points and he added six rebounds.   Jamir Andrews and Montre' Williams were also both in double-figures with 13 and 12 points.

Despite the lopsided final, the contest with tied two minutes into the second half after NSU surrendered a 40-33 halftime advantage for seven straight Lion points.  Andrews at the 17:35 mark turned contest completely over with a three-pointer to retake the lead, and the RiverHawks never looked back going on a 27-3 run in the next 11 minutes; Missouri Southern went 1-for-17 during that time span.

Statistically, the RiverHawks shot the ball better in the first half going 50 percent (16-32) in the first 20 minutes, compared to 40 percent (10-25) in the later half.  Missouri Southern was limited to only 15 points in the second period and was 18.8 percent (6-32) on the floor.  On the glass, the RiverHawks held a 42-39 edge on the Lions with Williams having eight as a team high.

HEAD COACH MARK DOWNEY ON THE WIN OVER MISSOURI SOUTHERN
"We've been waiting for them to make shots in games and when they do shoot the ball well, we've won.  Tonight we shot well; we made plays around the rim and made plays at big times. It was nice to see guys pick each other up the whole game."
 
INSIDE THE NUMBERS
11 – Missouri Southern missed 11 straight shots during the NSU 22-0 run in the second half.
30 – The RiverHawks' 30 point win was their largest against a MIAA conference opponent.
47 – With nine games remaining in the regular season, Montre' Williams now only needs 47 points to reach 1,000 in his NSU career.
 
COMING UP
The RiverHawks will remain at home to host Pitt State this Saturday at 2:30 p.m.