TAHLEQUAH – Northeastern State dealt themselves another heartbreaking loss, this time it was Nebraska-Kearney who rallied back from a 13-point second-half deficit to beat NSU 83-79 in overtime.
The loss is the RiverHawks' fifth in their last six outings on the floor as they drop to 10-6 overall and 3-4 in MIAA play.
"It's the same thing over and over again, we're one possession away," said head coach
Mark Downey. "I didn't do my part either tonight, I got a technical foul. Whether I deserved it or not, I still got one and when you talk about one possession at a time, that's on me as well. I also thought maybe it hurt our momentum a little bit, then we just didn't finish, we turned it over late in the game, we had a lot of opportunities to finish the game and we didn't do it."
"We've been working on late game situations and we've been talking about finishing, we talked about being a mature basketball team but we weren't very mature tonight. We have to keep working at it and find ways to finish tough situations, late game situations."
Kendrick Thompson recorded his fifth 20-point game to pace NSU with 22 points.
Josh Ihek had his third double-double as a RiverHawk with 12 points and ten rebounds.
Bradley George was also in double-digits with 13, and
Caleb Smith had 12.
The Lopers now, 10-5 and 4-2 in MIAA play have had strange luck in Tahlequah beating NSU six times in a row.
Northeastern State opened the game scored seven unanswered on the Lopers, and they connected on their first seven buckets. By the midway stoppage, the RiverHawk starters accounted for 23 of its 25 points and maintained a 25-12 advantage.
After making the first seven buckets of the game, NSU's offense cooled, and they shot 26.3-percent the rest of the way. The Lopers did not fare much better on their side of the court, and they were 8-for-24 in the first half to assist NSU in holding a 33-24 lead at the intermission.
A slow start and a 13-3 run by UNK closed the gap to 40-37 with 16:00 on the clock. Northeastern State responded with eight unanswered points to retake a double-digit advantage on the Lopers. Kearney continued to push the issue with NSU and dropped 13 straight points to a pull ahead 52-51 with 9:31 remaining; it would be their first lead of the afternoon.
Neither team could take more than one possession lead for the rest of regulation. UNK would hold a 68-66 lead with 38 seconds left on the clock before Thompson made a pair of crucial three-throws to even the game for the fifth time. The Lopers would have an opportunity to win the game in the final possession and a three-point attempt before the buzzer would miss sending the game into overtime.
The arc was UNK's friend in the extra period, and they responded with two three-point daggers following a pair of Thompson layups to take a 74-72 lead.
Troy Locke pulled NSU back even with a couple of free-throws before UNK returned to their side of the floor with a jumper to retake the lead.
Thompson, with 1:36 left on the clock, hit his third trey of the night to give NSU the lead for the final time. In the ensuing possession, the Lopers sank another triple to pull them ahead for the last time of the night.
In the final 25 minutes, the Lopers shot 61.1-percent from the field and were 8-for-13 at the arc. Northeastern State held the lead over 38 minutes.
"I'm not sure we're as tight as we need to be but hopefully this helps us get tighter and closer together. I've gotta do a better job and we have to have players step up and do a better job and we've gotta have seniors be seniors. Guys are working hard, they are pouring themselves into it but we've got to be just a little bit better, everybody's gotta be a little bit better."
The RiverHawks will be on the road for a mid-week MIAA contest against rivals Central Oklahoma for a 7:30 p.m. tip in Edmond.
