TAHLEQUAH – Northeastern State nearly reached the century mark in a 98-88 win over Newman Thursday night.

The start was led by a big surge of offense from NSU (10-15, 5-14 MIAA), with the team opening with a 20-4 run in the first five-and-a-half minutes, with Keon Edwards accounting for nine points during the same span of time. The Jets (8-17, 4-15 MIAA) took a slight advantage the rest of the period to make it a 13-point contest (49-36) at intermission.

The NSU lead extended to 20 (70-50) with 11:20 left, but it couldn't get the game out of grasp of the visitor's as they cut the lead to single digits in several instances. A stout performance at the line in the second half (18/20, 90.0%) got the team through the rest of the way without a major challenge from NU.

Jaxon Jones paced all RiverHawk players with 22 points, with Ethan Blackmon not far off with 20, which marked a career high in the short collegiate career of the true freshman. Jones had nine assists, while Blackmon brought eight rebounds to the box score for the hosts.

The RiverHawks had four more in double figures, with Keon Edwards scoring 16 and Anthony Allen (12 points), Seth Pratt (ten) and Caison Hartloff (ten) making big impacts on the offensive end.

Northeastern State plays Central Oklahoma for Senior Day at the NSU Event Center at 3:30 p.m.