Game 13: Northeastern State (3-9, 0-4 MIAA) vs. Lindenwood (10-3, 2-2 MIAA) at 7:30 p.m. | January 4, 2018
Tahlequah, Okla. | NSU Event Center
The Series
Northeastern State won last season in their previous match-up with the Lions but trail the overall series 3-5, and all the meetings have come in MIAA regular season play. At home in Tahlequah, Northeastern State is 1-3, with their victory coming on Dec. 6, 2014 (86-65).
The Coaches
Mark Downey was introduced as NSU's tenth men's basketball coach on April 11, 2017 and carries a 207-112 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.
Lance Randall (37-29) is in his third year at Lindenwood during the 2017-18 season. Randall is in his tenth as a collegiate head coach, and he has a career record of 168-108 in his first nine years. Prior to this season, Randall has won 298 games as a head coach at the high school, collegiate, and professional levels.
Last Time Out for NSU
A sluggish first half performance was too much to overcome as #17 ranked Dallas Baptist cruised to a 91-71 victory Saturday afternoon. NSU's
Montre' Williams (17),
Trent Cantrell (15)
Jamir Andrews (14) and
Tanner Mouse (11) led the RiverHawks scoring attack. Northeastern State trailed 60-29 entering the second half, but outscored the Patriots 42-31 over the final 20 minutes to fall 91-71.
Last Time Out for LWU
Lindenwood ended 2017 on a high note as it won for the first time on Missouri-St. Louis' home court. The Lions defeated the Tritons on Sunday afternoon by a 77-64 margin. Lindenwood took control of the game in the first 20 minutes with a strong defensive effort. The Lions held Missouri-St. Louis to just 34.6 percent shooting from the field in the half, including three-of-11 from three-point range.
A NSU win would…
- End a seven game skid.
- Second straight win over Lindenwood.
- First MIAA win of the season.
An LWU win would…
- Push their winning streak to four straight contests.
- Go to 4-2 on the road this season.
- Be their third win out of the last four meetings with the RiverHawks.
Up next
Northeastern State will host Lincoln on Saturday at 3:30 p.m.
