ST. CHARLES, Mo. – Northeastern State pushed its winning streak up to five and held off a pesky Lindenwood team, 76-71, on Saturday evening inside Hyland Arena.
 
After opening MIAA winless in their first five contests, the RiverHawks have pulled back to .500, and moved up to 11-8.   With their next three contests at home, NSU has a golden opportunity to continue to rise up the MIAA standings.  Leaving St. Charles on Saturday, the RiverHawks are in seventh with a half-game lead on Southwest Baptist and Lindenwood. 
 
Looking upward, the RiverHawks are game and a half back of Lincoln and two games back of three teams who are tied for third place.
 
The RiverHawks rode the hot hand of Trent Cantrell on Saturday with the junior having a career high 23 points.  All his damage was done at the arc where he banked seven treys on the Lions.
 
NSU never trailed past the 6:57 mark in the first half and led by double-digits for most of the second half.
 
However, Lindenwood would keep their foot on the door and extended the game on free throws.  The Lions shaved a 14 point NSU lead down to five with 28 seconds remaining.   Caleb Smith extended the lead back up to seven with two made shots at the line. Time played into NSU's advantage with Lindenwood eating up 17 seconds off the clock the their next possession.
 
Smith finished the evening with 16 points and seven rebounds.  Aaron Givens was NSU's third player in double-figures with 11 points and six rebounds. 
 
Neither team shot the ball well with NSU having the edge for the seventh game in a row going 38.7-percent (24-62).  Lindenwood who falls to 11-10 (4-5 MIAA) had their worst shooting night in the last 15 games, going 37.3-percent (22-59).
 
NSU had the rebounding edge by three with 42 over the Lions.
 
TIP INS
First time since the 2009-10 season that NSU has won three road games in a row … eighth game in a row that NSU has out-rebounded a team … lowest shooting percentage in a NSU win since Nov. 18, 2017 vs. Ecclesia (38.4-percent).
 
COMING UP
The RiverHawks will return home for the next three games and will host Central Missouri (10-8, 3-6 MIAA) this Thursday inside the NSU Event Center for a 7:30 p.m. tip-off.