TAHLEQUAH – Behind a career high 29-point night from Kendrick Thompson, Northeastern State held off a second-half charge by Fort Hays State to snap a four-game skid Thursday evening by winning 76-70 inside the NSU Event Center.

Thompson sank seven triples, a career mark for the senior, and shot 11-for-15 from the field to guide NSU to a 10-5 overall mark and 3-3 MIAA record.

"We needed it. We've been snake-bitten a little bit and we just needed to mature and finish a game," said head coach Mark Downey.  "That's what we've been talking about, just finish, grow up a little bit and make the plays we need to make. We tried to make it interesting but we made the plays we had to make and hit the free throws we had to make and I'm proud of the team, especially after we had three assists and 20 turnovers on Monday and we came back tonight with 17 assists and four turnovers so that's huge for us and then withstanding their barrage of threes." 

Smith recorded his sixth 20-point effort of the season with 20 points.  Bradley George had nine points and five assists with Josh Ihek pacing the team on the glass with eight and four blocks.

The RiverHawks opened with a full head of steam and led as many as nine points with just under 14 left in the first half.  The Tigers responded back with ten unanswered points to pull back even at 17-17 with NSU by the seven-minute mark.   Trailing by a pair with 4:16 left, the RiverHawks finished the half on an 11-2 run to take some momentum into the locker room leading the Tigers 35-28.  Thompson paced NSU with 13 points and Ihek on the defensive end had three blocks.   As a team, NSU committed only one turnover.

Fort Hays State came out furious in the second half connecting on their first six shots from the arc pull back even with NSU at 50-50 with just over ten minutes left in regulation.  Both teams traded buckets until the Tigers sank a pair of free-throws to take a 54-53 lead with 8:29 left.  This would be the final time they would lead with Thompson in the next possession nailing a trey to pull NSU back out in front.

The Tigers would make a late last stand and pulled within 70-67 with 55 seconds left in the game.  A missed free-throw by NSU with 37 seconds left gave Fort Hays a chance to tie.  The RiverHawks would foul to put an FHSU player at the line where they would miss both chances to allow NSU to ice the game at the line in the next possession.

Northeastern State finished the night shooting 25-for-50 from the field and sank 12 three-pointers.   On the glass, the RiverHawks out-rebounded the Tigers by three with 22.

The Tigers drop to 6-7 and 0-5 in the MIAA with the loss to NSU.

Northeastern State will remain at home this Saturday to host Nebraska-Kearney at 3:30 p.m.