ALVA – Caleb Smith picked up where he left off leading RiverHawks with 22 points as they cruised past Northwestern Oklahoma 74-53 on Friday night.

Smith recorded his seventh 20-point game in an NSU uniform with six boards and it is the senior's 28th game with at least ten points. 

The RiverHawks bench helped carry the load with all their non-starters leading a hand with 36 points. In his career debut, Daniel Dotson sank four treys and was the team's second-leading scorer with 14.  

On the glass, the RiverHawks held a 42-38 advantage with Bradley George having seven.

Northwestern sank a three to open the game and it was their lone lead of the evening. The RiverHawks used a 25-7 run using eight treys to roll into the intermission with a 37-23 lead. Dotson had the hot hand with four three-pointers in the half.

In the second half, the RiverHawks continued to pull away, including a two-minute stretch that saw NSU score seven unanswered points, kicked off by a three-pointer from George.   NSU finished the evening with their largest lead of the night and shooting 50-percent (11-22) from the field in the final 20 minutes.

George and Troy Locke both added seven points, Kendrick Thompson had six points, six rebounds, and four assists.

Northeastern State will look for a weekend sweep on Saturday where they will face UMary (1-0) for the first time as a program. Tip-off is set for 2:15 p.m. in Alva.