TAHLEQUAH -- The RiverHawks play their final scheduled non-conference NCAA Division II game Saturday evening with a rare in-state visit to Oklahoma Christian.
Northeastern State is coming off a Tuesday evening 96-60 win against Arlington Baptist in their home opener, with
Emeka Obukwelu leading the team with 31 points.
Saturday's game is the final one for the RiverHawks before the Thanksgiving holiday; they will return home to host Haskell Indian Nations Friday at 7 p.m., and the Ozarks (Ark.) Saturday at 4 p.m.
The Setup
- Northeastern State will make their first trip to Oklahoma Christian since 1993.
- The RiverHawks won their first road game in the last two seasons.
- Saturday's game was originally on the NSU non-conference schedule for the 2020-21 season before COVID-19 shifted the MIAA to play a conference-only schedule.
- Head Coach Ja Havens has not faced Oklahoma Christian.
Storylines
- Win number-two for the RiverHawks took until game nine one season ago.
- Brad Davis is the RiverHawks' longest-tenured player on their roster and has played in 45 games. Between NSU and two seasons at Eastern Okla. CC, the native of Red Oak, has over 1,200 career points scored.
- Christian Cook has scored at-least ten points in the last eight games and is averaging 18 points per game this season. Against the University of Mary, he started the game shooting 9-for-9 from the field.
- Emeka Obukwelu is a graduate transfer from the University of Arkansas, where he played for two seasons for the Razorbacks. He transferred from Texas-Tyler, where he was Selected to the Small College Basketball Watch List for the Bevo Francis Award of 2018. Obukwelu has averaged 20.7 points in three games this season, and his 31 points against Arlington Baptist tied for the MIAA individual scoring high this season.
- Graduate transfer Tylor Arnold played for Head Coach Ja Havens for three seasons at East Central (Okla.) and was on the top-10 list for career minutes, career steals, and career throw percentage. Arnold was a finalist for the Distinguished George Nigh Award, given to East Central's Top Graduate and the 2021 Distinguished Graduate of the ECU Stonecipher School of Business. In his first outing at NSU, Arnold recorded a double-double and is averaging 7.3 points and 6.3 rebounds per game.
- Four players made their NSU debuts against Bacone on Tuesday evening. Wil McCoy played eight minutes and had eight points; Shakeil Bertrand had five points, two steals, and a block in nine minutes.
- Northeastern State has brothers Jake Gendron and Ryan Gendron on their roster. Jake was a 2021 All-State selection out of Bishop Kelley HS where he played for Jordan Nagel, a Northeastern State alumnus. Ryan is a transfer from the University of Tulsa, where he was a member of the men's basketball program (2019-21). He attended Oklahoma State on a baseball scholarship and redshirted the 2019 season.
- Local Tahlequah product Jaxon Jones is in his second season at NSU, and was limited to three games last season after suffering a season-ending injury on New Year's Eve. Jones had three of the RiverHawks five three-pointers last Saturday against Northwestern Okla. and had a career-high 11 points.
- In October, Northeastern State was picked to finish in 13th place in both the MIAA Coaches and Media Polls.
- The 2021-22 season is the 93rd for men's basketball at Northeastern State.
- The RiverHawks are entering their tenth season as members of the MIAA and 25th season as an NCAA Division II program.
About Oklahoma Christian
- The Eagles will play Northeastern State with a day worth of rest after facing Champion Christian Thursday evening. Oklahoma Christian had six players in double figures in the 91-63 win in their home opener.
- Oklahoma Christian is in a pod of five games where they don't need to leave the OKC metroplex and play seven of ten at home.
- Northeastern State is the first non-conference state school from Oklahoma that OC will see since Nov. 30, 2018, hosting Southern Nazarene.
- Karlyn Kenner leads OC in scoring with 13.7 points per game and had a 20 point performance against Black Hills State in Denver. Kenner is a transfer from Southern Nazarene, where he played for two seasons.
- Justin Nimmer transferred from Central Oklahoma and made two starts against NSU during the 2019-20 season.
- Led by OC alumni Kendre Talley who was named as head coach in Jan. 2020.
- Members of the Lone Star Conference, Northeastern State was a member from 1995 to 2011.
Last Time They Met
Northeastern State 76, Oklahoma Christian 56 | Nov. 16, 2019 | Tahlequah, Okla.
- Brad Davis scored 15 points off the bench on 5-for-9 shooting.
- After being tied at 26-26, the RiverHawks went on a 25-8 run in the five minutes between the halves to put away OC.
Series Notes
- The overall series is tied at 9-9 with one meeting between the two schools since 1994.
- Northeastern State is 1-4 overall as the visitors
