Senior-laden Southeastern cashes in NSU’s miscues

NATCHITOCHES – After taking a couple steps forward and earning a Southland Conference road win Wednesday, the Northwestern State basketball team stumbled backward Saturday evening at home against second-place Southeastern Louisiana.

The Demons looked every bit the fifth-youngest team in the country, with six freshmen and two more newcomers, against the Lions, who have six seniors. Southeastern (19-10 overall, 13-3 in the Southland) collected 15 steals and decimated the Demons 86-62 at Prather Coliseum.

SLU, winning its sixth straight, scored 21 points off turnovers as it opened a 52-30 lead just after halftime. The Lions ultimately outscored NSU 29-12 after snagging 20 turnovers, evenly split between halves.

“We had taken a couple steps in the right direction and tonight, we went back two or three,” said 19th-year Demons coach Mike McConathy, whose squad fell to 4-23 overall, 1-15 in conference. “Southeastern has a very good team, a very talented team, a very experienced team, and we added fuel to the fire with some really sloppy turnovers, making it easy for them.

“They score 29 off turnovers. We lose by 24. You don’t game-plan giving them layups because you’re not taking care of the basketball,” he said. “We were throwing the ball all over the gym. It looked like a hot potato.”

The Lions never trailed. They raced to a 28-10 lead that the Demons gnawed to 29-22 over a four-minute span. But the final five minutes of the half settled the outcome. SLU mounted a game-changing response, an 18-6 run pushing the Lions up 47-28.

Afterward NSU got no closer than 17, in the first four minutes of the second half, before SLU shot the lead over 20 permanently. The visitors sizzled from the field, making 11 of their first 15 shots in the final 20 minutes including 4-5 on 3-pointers.

“We didn’t jump to the ball defensively. We didn’t get where we needed to be, and they took it to us,” said McConathy. “They set great picks and we didn’t get through them, and goodness, they hardly missed a shot from outside for a long stretch, shot the 3-ball great.”

Southeastern shot 63 percent overall, 56 percent (10-18) on 3-pointers. Jordan Capps worked inside for 21 points and helped blanket NSU’s top scorer, Ishmael Lane, who got off only one first-half shot and scored all nine of his points afterward. SLU’s Brandon Gonzales didn’t miss a shot as he scored 15.

NSU freshman Larry Owens was also perfect from the field (4-4) for his team-best 10 points. The Demons hit 46 percent of their shots overall, but just 4-14 on 3s and 8-16 at the free throw line.

“We didn’t compete to the level we competed at in our last two games. We didn’t bring the fight to anybody tonight,” said McConathy. “Southeastern got some easy run-outs early, and our body language dropped down, which shows we’re not mature enough to knock the wall down and get through rough stretches. We can’t be inconsistent with our toughness.”

The final home game for the Demons comes Wednesday night against league-leading Nicholls. The season concludes at Central Arkansas next Saturday.