TAHLEQUAH – Behind a 27-point night from Kendrick Thompson, the RiverHawks went coast-to-coast in a dominating 90-71 win over Lincoln inside the Event Center Thursday evening.

The win is the third consecutive for the RiverHawks, who improved to 13-6 overall and 6-4 in the MIAA. 

Thompson had 15 of his points in the second half in-route to his seventh 20-point outing of the season. The senior missed his career-high by a pair. 

Caleb Smith dropped 19 on the Blue Tigers with 17 of those coming in the first ten minutes of play. Josh Ihek had 13, and Troy Locke led the NSU bench with 12. 

"I was honestly worried about our energy," head coach Mark Downey.  "I didn't know how we could come out. This team's kind of been a bit up and down with that. We came out and were ready to play, Caleb came out and got us going with big shots early, and got our offense rolling, then Kendrick finished it in the second half."

"It was a great offensive effort for 40 minutes. I think that we haven't had an offensive effort like that in a conference game this year."

Thompson set the pace for NSU with a three-pointer out of the gates, and they never looked back in the first half. The RiverHawks dropped eight three-pointers on the Blue Tigers and led as many as 22-points.   A highlight of the half came with just over a minute left with DeVonta Prince slamming down a dunk while being fouled to put NSU up 49-32.  Smith led the RiverHawks with 17 points on 6-for-7 shooting at the intermission with his team-leading the Blue Tigers, 52-36. 

The second half was all NSU where the led by at-least 15. By the midway mark, the RiverHawks took a 79-53 lead following a Thompson trey before they coasted to the finish. 

Northeastern State finished the evening shooting 47.6-percent on the floor and with 11 made treys. On the glass, the RiverHawks held a 36-29 advantage, with Smith leading the team with eight. NSU controlled Second-chance points with a 16-to-6 advantage. 

Thursday's loss sends Lincoln to 7-10 overall and 4-4 in the MIAA. 

Northeastern State returns to the floor Saturday, where they will host Central Missouri at 3:30 p.m.