Game 21: Northeastern State (6-14, 2-9 MIAA) vs. Southwest Baptist (11-9, 5-6 MIAA) at 7:30 p.m. | February, 1, 2018
Bolivar, Mo. | John Q. Hammons Court
The Series
The RiverHawks lead the overall series with Southwest Baptist 12-7 but have lost the last three meetings in a row. In the series that started in the 1965-66 season, Northeastern State won the first nine meetings with the Bearcats. As MIAA member schools, the RiverHawks are winless in three meetings in Bolivar and are 2-5 in league play.
The Coaches
Mark Downey was introduced as NSU's tenth men's basketball coach on April 11, 2017 and carries a 210-117 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.
Clark Sheehy is in his fourth season on the SBU bench, holding a 47-59 (24-47 MIAA) record while at SBU. Sheehy holds a career coaching record of 228-160 across twelve seasons while coaching six different All-Americans and over 20 athletes that have moved on to play professional basketball.
Last Time Out for NSU
Jamir Andrews' sixth 20-point game was not enough for the RiverHawks who could not slow down Pittsburg State's hot shooting at the arc to fall 96-82 on Saturday afternoon at the NSU Event Center. The Gorillas shot 57.7 percent from three-point range knocking down 15 of their 26 attempts on NSU. Andrews finished the contest with 23 points for the RiverHawks,
Trent Cantrell was three points short of a career high with 13, and
Lucas Antunez added 12 off the bench. Despite the strong shooting game by Pitt State, rebounds and second chance points kept the RiverHawks in the ballgame. NSU out-rebounded the Gorillas by 11 with 35 and on the offensive glass; the RiverHawks dominated 14-to-2.
Last Time Out for Southwest Baptist
The Bearcats and Hornets played two extra frames on Sunday afternoon but in the end, it was Southwest Baptist coming out victorious over Emporia State by a final score of 87-80. The win snapped a three game losing skid for the Bearcats. Marlon Alcindor and Chris Rossow had career days to lead the Bearcats. Alcindor poured in 27 points, shooting 60% from the field (9-15), 50% (3-6) from downtown, and a perfect 100% (6-6) from the stripe. Rossow filled up the stat sheet with a career best 11 assists to go along with 8 points and 7 rebounds.
Game 100
Last time on the floor against Pitt State,
Montre' Williams reached 100 games played in a RiverHawks' jersey. Williams has been a fixture in NSU's starting lineup making 48 consecutive appearances.
The Spaniard
NSU senior
Lucas Antunez has hit double-figure scoring in his last three appearances off of the RiverHawks' bench averaging 14.6 points a game. On Jan. 24 at home against Missouri Southern, Antunez went off for a season high 22 points and shot 77.8 percent (7-9) on the floor in 19 minutes of action.
Up next
Northeastern State heads to Central Missouri next and will face the Mules on Saturday for a 3:30 p.m. start.
