TAHLEQUAH – Northeastern State men's basketball closes out a five-game homestand Monday evening, where they will host Washburn in their MIAA opener inside the NSU Event Center. 

The RiverHawks are fresh off a 99-65 win Friday over Haskell and enter their conference season holding a 3-1 mark.  

Washburn (3-3) is winless in its two road contests and was picked to finish fourth in the MIAA this season by the league coaches.  The Ichabods reached the NCAA Central Region Tournament Semifinals and had a 22-11 overall record last season.   Northeastern State was a throne in Washburn's side last season and was the lone MIAA team to sweep the conference series.   

Heading into Monday's tilt, Washburn is ninth in the MIAA in scoring (74.5 ppg), while the RiverHawks are third (92.0 ppg).  Junior guard Connor Deffebaugh leads the Ichabods in scoring with just over 12 points per game. 

The RiverHawks have a trio of players scoring in the top ten among MIAA foes.  Rashad Perkins is tied for fourth with 18.3 points per game, Dillon Bailey is eighth with 15.8, and Christian Cook is tied for tenth with 15.   

Bailey turned in a career-best 30 points in NSU's most recent outing, which is tied for the second most among MIAA players this season.   He also played as the spoiler in the most recent meeting with Washburn, scoring ten points in the final 50 seconds in a 72-71 win in Tahlequah.  Bailey scored the tying bucket with 3.7 seconds left in the game and drew an offensive foul, leading to the go-ahead winning free throw. 

Washburn holds a 10-9 series edge on the RiverHawks, who snapped an eight-game Ichabod win streak over NSU last season.

Tip-off Wednesday is slated for 7:30 p.m. fans can watch the game online on The MIAA Network at TheMIAANetwork.com/nsugoriverhawks; tickets are available at GoRiverHawksGo.com/tickets.