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Northeastern State University Athletics

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Men's Basketball
Mallory Semrow
66
Northeastern St. NE 1-5,1-5 Mid-America Intercollegiate
72
Winner Neb.-Kearney UNK 2-5,2-5 Mid-America Intercollegiate
Northeastern St. NE
1-5,1-5 Mid-America Intercollegiate
66
Final
72
Neb.-Kearney UNK
2-5,2-5 Mid-America Intercollegiate
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 F
Northeastern St. NE 30 36 66
Neb.-Kearney UNK 37 35 72

Game Recap: Men's Basketball |

NSU fades late at Nebraska Kearney, 72-66

KEARNEY, Neb. -- The RiverHawks dug themselves out of a seven-point halftime defect but faded in the final minutes falling 72-66 at Nebraska Kearney on Sunday afternoon to close out play before Winter Break. 

"I thought we did a great job of battling back. We dug a hole at halftime obviously and did a good job getting out and getting the lead," said head coach Ja Havens.  "When it is time to win the game in the last five minutes, we didn't get the stops we needed.  They were able to take the ball where they wanted to...we settled offensively instead of working for the shot we wanted." 

The RiverHawks had nine of their ten suited players scoring with four in double-digits.  Obi Agu, Daniel Dotson, and Troy Locke all had 11 points to lead the team.  Brad Davis had ten, and Trey Sampson scored nine. 

Once again, rebounding proved to be an achilles' heel for the RiverHawks, and they were out-paced by UNK 36-to-24.  The Lopers had an 11-5 edge on the offensive glass and won the second-chance points, 17-to-6.

Dotson led NSU on the boards with seven, a career-high for the redshirt-sophomore from Tulsa.

After trailing 37-30 out of the first half, the RiverHawks' offense clicked early and went on a 14-2 run on the Lopers shooting 5-for-6 from the field.  UNK went scoreless for four minutes to allow NSU to climb ahead by a possession.  The RiverHawks held a 53-50 edge with just over eight minutes remaining before things turned on a dime for NSU.  Nebraska Kearney controlled the next six minutes of play and went on a 12-1 run, shooting 5-for-10 from the field.  NSU missed five straight buckets and trailed by eight, 62-54, and never recovered.  In the final eight minutes, UNK made nine of their last 14 shots and outpaced the RiverHawks 22-13. 

Nebraska Kearney (2-5, 2-5 MIAA) split the weekend games after dropping a 66-60 tilt to Rogers State on Friday.  Jake Walker paced both teams with 25 points, and Austin Luger had 18, with 13 of those coming in the final eight minutes of the contest. 

Northeastern State shot 26-for-55 from the field and was 6-of-23 from the arc.

The RiverHawks will be idle until Dec. 31, where they will host top-ranked Northwest Missouri (3-0, 3-0 MIAA), who has been on a program pause since Dec. 5 due to COVID-19 protocols.  Tip-off is scheduled for 1 p.m. inside the NSU Event Center. 

NOTABLES 
- Tahlequah native Jaxon Jones played 17 minutes and scored his first career points finishing with four at UNK. 
- Fifth 10+ game this season for Brad Davis.
- Second consecutive double-digit game for Locke, who made his first start of the season.
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