KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Northeastern State's season came to an end in the MIAA Tournament as the RiverHawks fell 69-59 to Central Missouri on Wednesday at Municipal Auditorium.

Despite a strong second-half push, the RiverHawks couldn't overcome an 11-point halftime deficit. Trey Phipps led NSU with 23 points and hit five three-pointers.  The Tulsa native concluded his season with 609 points, the most for a NSU men's basketball player since Bryton Hobbs who scored 670 during the 2013-14 campaign.   

Jaxon Jones added 14 points and three triples as the local Tahlequah product concluded his five-year career at NSU with 93 games played and 56 starts in the Green and White. Ethan Blackmon recorded his seventh double-double of the season with 13 points and 10 rebounds.

Central Missouri (15-14) used a balanced attack to keep NSU at bay, with DeAirius Barker leading the way with 25 points, including four three-pointers. Elijah Farr added 16 points and 10 rebounds, while Josh Nwankwo had 11 points and six rebounds.

The RiverHawks trailed 34-23 at halftime after shooting just 33% from the field in the first half.  Central Missouri extended their lead out of 17 in the second half before the RiverHawks trimmed down the deficit to single digits.  Jones had 11 points in the final 11:42 of the game with NSU forcing five takeaways.   

"I'm proud of the fight we had late to get back in it," said head coach Ja Havens.  "We were right there, just needed the ball to get in there a couple more times, that might have made it more interesting there in the last couple of minutes."

UCM won the rebounding battle 36-23 and outscored NSU 24-12 in the paint.

With the loss, Northeastern State concludes its season with a 14-15 overall mark.