MeDemons surge in second half to defeat UIW

SAN ANTONIO, Texas – One big shot from Jae Slack changed the course of the Northwestern State men’s basketball team’s Saturday evening.

After seeing an eight-point lead vanish in the final 4:46 of the first half of their Southland Conference road game at UIW, the Demons were down three before Slack beat the halftime buzzer with a corner 3-pointer to pull Northwestern State back even.

That shot – part of a career-best scoring effort from Slack – awakened the Demons, who delivered a sublime second-half performance, pulling away for an 81-61 victory and a season sweep of the Cardinals.

“Slack’s 3 going into the half changed how I approached the guys and how they were in the locker room,” first-year head coach Rick Cabrera said. “The game of basketball is a game of runs, and they made a run to take the lead by three. Slack making that 3 was a momentum changer for us. To be tied on the road at halftime after giving up 48-percent shooting and us shooting 38 percent, I told them we were in a good place. If we defend, rebound and execute, we’ll win the game. That’s exactly what we did.”

The corner 3 was part of an 18-point effort for Slack, a Temple College transfer who stayed hot in the second half. Boosted by the timely shot, Slack embodied the Demons’ sharpshooting second half, hitting all four of his shots, including three 3-pointers.

As a team, the Demons shot 59.4 percent from the field in the second half, marking the second straight game against UIW where Northwestern State enjoyed a second-half offensive surge. In NSU’s 97-71 victory Jan. 13 in Natchitoches, the Demons shot nearly 74 percent (17-for-23) in the final 20 minutes.

Equally as impressive to Cabrera was the way Northwestern State (8-18, 6-7) defended in the second half.

After allowing the Cardinals (8-17, 3-9) to shoot 48.1 percent from the field in the first half, the Demons limited UIW to seven second-half field goals and 33.3 percent shooting in the final 20 minutes.

“We guarded,” Cabrera said. “We changed up defenses, and the guys did a heck of a job.”

That defense included holding UIW scoreless for a 4:52 stretch of the second half in which the Demons took control with a 14-0 run that gave them a 23-point lead. NSU eventually pushed the lead to 25 as part of its third conference win by at least 20 points this season.

Two of those have come on the road – a 92-67 win at New Orleans on Jan. 20 being the other. The two road conference wins of at least 20 points marked the first time since the 2014-15 season for Northwestern State to compile two road Southland wins of at least 20 points.

While Slack led the Demons with his career-high 18 points, he had plenty of help.

Northwestern State put three other players – Chase Forte (15), Jimel Lane (14) and Cliff Davis (10) – in double figures while Braelon Bush added nine points.

Additionally, the Demons were plus-eight in turnover margin, leading to a 13-point advantage in points off turnovers, won the battle in the paint (36-32) and enjoyed a 33-20 edge in bench points, underscoring the all-hands-on-deck approach utilized in picking up their second road win of the season and eighth straight against the Cardinals.

Alex Anderson led UIW with 20 points but was the only Cardinal to reach double figures.

“In all honesty, this may be the most complete game we played this season from one through nine,” Cabrera said. “Everyone contributed in a positive way – scoring or defensively, grabbing tough rebounds. When you do it on the road, it’s more special. We needed this. Incarnate Word is a team coming off a very good win against Lamar. We had our work cut out, but they did as well. It was a good battle until the second half when we took care of business.”

The Demons return to action Monday night when they face Texas A&M-Corpus Christi in the second of a three-game road trip. Tipoff is set for 7 p.m. at the American Bank Center.