Northwestern State falls at Texas A&M, 80-59

COLLEGE STATION, Texas – Both Texas A&M and Northwestern State got what they needed out of Tuesday night’s 80-59 basketball win by the Aggies at Reed Arena.

A&M picked up a win and pulled away in the closing minutes. The Demons, after two lopsided losses, hung tough against a Power 5 conference opponent and were able to sustain a much-improved performance for nearly the full 40 minutes.

The Demons dropped their third in a row and dipped to 2-7 overall, while the Aggies (3-4) won their second straight.

A&M was led by a game-high 18 points from Wendell Mitchell, 14 by Christian Mekowulu (who was 8 of 10 at the free throw line) and 12 by T.J. Starks. The Aggies shot 48 percent in both halves.

NSU got 16 points and six rebounds by senior forward Ishmael Lane, and 13 points and a career-best seven assists from sophomore point guard C.J. Jones. Sophomore center Darian Dixon scored 10 and led the visitors with seven rebounds.

Demons’ coach Mike McConathy wasn’t chalking up a moral victory by any means, but the 20th-year coach saw his team make obvious strides after two losses by 28 and 30 points last week.

“We played with a lot more poise and confidence. You say you get beat 21, but we had plenty of positives,” he said.
“We were 100 percent (10-10) at the FT line, and after halftime we took much better care of the ball, and shot it well until the last four minutes. We did a pretty good job guarding them in the halfcourt but they took advantage in transition and that helped them extend the lead.”

NSU trailed 38-24 at halftime largely because of 15 turnovers, but lost possession only three times afterward.The Demons were sinking half their second-half shots until finishing with only one make in the last eight tries.

The margin never got closer than 10 in the second half, but not until Texas A&M ended the game on an 11-2 burst over the final 3:59 did the Aggies secure the outcome.

“We gave up 15 points off turnovers in the first half. It was a 14-point game and that was the difference,” said McConathy.

“We did so much better with the ball afterward, but they beat us on the boards (21-13, for an overall 38-33 advantage) after we had the edge (20-17) for the first half.

“C.J. Jones had a really, really good game, managed it well. He was assertive and smart with the ball and we were much improved as a result,” said McConathy.

“Ish got some rhythm going in the second half and looked like himself again. Darian took advantage of how Texas A&M did defensively and got the ball to the basket, and had nice production scoring and rebounding against bigger players,” he said. “We did some good things, but they are bigger, stronger, and faster.”

NSU never led, but made a couple of runs within six points during the first half despite making only 29 percent of its shots. The Demons got 3-pointers by Jones and LaTerrance Reed to open the second half and remained in range nearly the entire way.

“We had some good play in a lot of different aspects. We weren’t as solid as we want defensively but we weren’t without merit in that aspect,” said McConathy. “We can build from this.”

NSU will not play again until next Wednesday, Dec. 12, at Texas Tech, followed by a Saturday, Dec. 15 matchup with Southern in the Shreveport-Bossier Holiday Classic.