CLAREMORE, Okla. – Northeastern State men's basketball fell at Rogers State 74-67. The RiverHawks had four players score in double figures, but in a game in which 53 fouls were called NSU missed 15 attempts at the line.
Freshman
Dillon Bailey led Northeastern State with a career-high 16 points and was joined by three teammates in double figures.
NSU closed the first half on a 9-0 run the final 4:07 of the contest and Bailey scored all of them to lead 30-26.
"I thought our guys competed and that's what we asked them to do," head coach
Ja Havens said. "We fought and now we just need to compete and execute a little better. If we make some more free throws and finish at the line a little better maybe we have a little better feeling at the end."
In the second half, the Hillcats won at the free throw line converting on 23-26 while the RiverHawks shot 15-27 (55.6 percent) the final 20 minutes.
After Rogers State pushed its lead to 10 points late in the third quarter NSU got within five at the 2:37 mark as the RiverHawks were called for six fouls and RSU made 12 of their attempts.
On the boards, after Agu and
Troy Locke fouled out down the stretch NSU couldn't truly gain an advantage. They were outrebounded 45-35 for the game and allowed 12 second-chance points. On a positive note, physical 6-foot 4-inch senior Devonta Prince netted a career-high nine points and eight rebounds.
Rogers State was led by Pullum with 31 points and Darraja Parnell turned in a double-double.
Northeastern State makes the Missouri road trip meeting Central Missouri Thursday at 7:30 p.m. and playing at Lincoln Jan. 23 at 3 p.m.
NOTABLES
Sixth straight game with at least ten points for Locke ... Eighth straight double-digit scoring game for Davis ...
Ja Havens is 1-2 against the Hillcats all-time ... Northeastern State is 1-8 all-time against Rogers State ... Five players from both teams fouled out with three technical fouls being accessed ... The RiverHawks hit 15 three-pointers in last season's matchup at Rogers State ... Northeastern State has started the same five in the last five games.
