JOPLIN, Mo. – Northeastern State came up short of upending #13 ranked Missouri Southern on the road and fell 65-62 Wednesday.

The RiverHawks led for over 23 minutes against a Southern team that has now won 26 straight on their home court.

"We deserved to win that game," head coach Mark Downey said. "I'm proud of our guys. They executed the gameplan but we all need to make one more play."

Caleb Smith recorded his second career double-double with 12 points and a season best 13 rebounds.  Kendrick Thompson led NSU with 21 points and six off the glass.  After missing the last six games, Brad Davis came off the bench with nine points.

The RiverHawks took advantage of a cool first half by the Lions where they shot a mere 25-percent from the field to hold a 33-28 lead into the locker room.  NSU didn't shoot well on their half of the court going 37.5-percent but they held a 24-17 rebounding edge on the Lions to give them four extra possessions.  Smith had nine off the glass and six points.  Thompson paced all players on the floor with nine, all coming from the arc.

Southern came out of the second half scoring eight straight on the RiverHawks to take a 38-35 advantage five minutes into the second half.  Thompson halted the run with back-to-back buckets to retake the lead on Southern.   NSU continued to hold onto a two-possession lead until with 4:27 left the Lions evened up the game at 52-52 with a trey. They would pull ahead in the closing minutes' thanks in part to shooting 8-10 from the line.

The loss snapped a four-game winning streak by NSU and they will fall to 14-7 overall and 7-5 in the MIAA.  Southern improves to 16-3 and 9-1 in league action.

Northeastern State remains on the road to face Pitt State this Saturday for a 3:30 p.m. tip