Game 26: Northeastern State (7-18, 3-13 MIAA) vs. Nebraska-Kearney (12-13, 8-8 MIAA) at 4 p.m. | February 17, 2018
Kearney, Neb. | Health and Sports Center
The Series
Saturday's meeting is the 13th between the Lopers and RiverHawks with NSU trailing in the series 10-2. The RiverHawks have dropped their last eight in a row to UNK. Northeastern State's last win over Lopers came at home (90-85) during the 2013-14 season.
The Coaches
Mark Downey was introduced as NSU's tenth men's basketball coach on April 11, 2017 and carries a 211-121 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.
Kevin Lofton (53-35) is in his 23rd year at Nebraska-Kearney and third as head coach of the Lopers. Since his promotion from associate head coach, the Lopers have achieved a record of 207-160, including a 141-109 conference record. Over Lofton's 20 plus years on the UNK bench in various coaching roles, he has helped the Lopers reach 11 NCAA Tournaments, including two visits to the Sweet Sixteen and the 2003 Elite Eight.
Last Time Out for NSU
Late game magic would not repeat itself for the RiverHawks on Thursday evening with a frantic comeback coming up short 81-74 at Fort Hays State. Northeastern State trimmed a double-digit deficit down to four points in the final 90 seconds but they could not close in further on the Tigers. Despite trailing from the opening horn and as many as 17 points to the Tigers, the game was statistically even. One extra made shot by Fort Hays State (27-49) was the difference from the field. One the glass, the RiverHawks had a 25-to-24 edge with
Jamir Andrews having seven as a team high, he would also have a game high 22 points.
Trent Cantrell for the second game in a row matched his career high with 16 points off the RiverHawks' bench.
Last Time Out for UNK
The Nebraska-Kearney men's basketball team shot a season-high 57 percent, sunk 13 three pointers and got 56 combined points from a trio of seniors to roll past Central Oklahoma, 87-66, Thursday night at the Health & Sports Center. Leading for the final 34 minutes, the Lopers out shot (57-37 percent) and out rebounded (36-26) a bigger 'Chos squad with five Division I transfers on its roster.
1,000 Points
On Saturday, Feb. 10,
Montre' Williams was the first NSU men's basketball player since 2014 to score 1,000 career points in a RiverHawks' uniform. Williams has 1,024 career points in 105 games played at Northeastern State. Bryton Hobbs (2012-14) was the last NSU player to hit the scoring milestone, finishing with 1,182 points.
The Graduate
NSU graduate student
Jamir Andrews is averaging 16.7 points a game in MIAA play which seventh best through 15 conference games played. Overall, Andrews has nine games this season where he has scored at least 20-points, and is averaging 21.5 per game in the last four contests.
Up next
Northeastern State wrap up the regular season at home next week with Emporia State coming to the Event Center on Thursday for a 7:30 p.m. tip.
