By Jason Pugh, Northwestern State Associate Athletic Director for External Relations; featured photo by Chris Reich,,NSU Photographic Services
NATCHITOCHES – Sometimes victories can lead to teachable moments.
Such was the case for the Northwestern State men’s basketball team Friday afternoon as the Demons held off a furious Southern-New Orleans second-half comeback for an 89-79 victory in their final non-conference home game of the season.
“I want to give credit to Southern-New Orleans,” second-year head coach Rick Cabrera said. “Those kids fought, and their coach ran some really good stuff, especially in the second half. They came in prepared. We played a team that played well. Today doesn’t define who we are. Giving up 79 points at home is never acceptable, no matter the opponent. I am glad we got the win, and we can head into the Christmas break and get ready for Texas on the 29th.
The Demons (5-6) had an answer for every time the Knights pushed back. More often than not, the answer offensively was Addison Patterson.
The senior forward turned in a career day, establishing career highs in points (33) and rebounds (10) while handing out four of the Demons’ 22 assists. Patterson was coolly efficient, hitting 11 of 13 shots and 10 of 11 free throws.
Patterson was equally effective in both halves, scoring 16 of his points in the first half before going 8-for-8 from the free throw line as part of a 17-point second half.
“I got easy looks from my teammates finding me,” Patterson said. “I think most of my buckets came assisted right at the rim or right at the 3. They’re the same easy shots I make every day. They set it up for me, and I was able to put it in the hoop.”
As a team, the Demons had little issue putting the ball in the hoop.
Northwestern shot 51.7 percent from the field, including 40 percent from 3-point range (8-for-20) and 90.5 percent (19 for 21) from the free-throw line. That overall team efficiency helped the Demons rally from an early six-point deficit to take their first lead on freshman Justin Redmond’s first career basket – a 3-pointer that came off a Chris Mubiru feed with 12:40 to play in the first half.
Redmond’s shot was part of a 13-2 run across 4:44 of the first half that swung the lead to the Demons’ side for good.
After SUNO whittled the lead to one, the Demons used a 10-0 spurt across 2:47 to take their first double-digit lead of the game.
Despite taking a 15-point lead into halftime, Northwestern was minus-4 in turnover margin and allowed nine points off its 10 first-half turnovers. That same issue reared its head in the second half with one key difference.
SUNO again forced 10 Northwestern turnovers in the second half, but the Knights converted those into 14 points, which helped them cut a 20-point Demon lead to eight with 5:55 to play in the game on one of Tyon Thompson’s four second-half 3-pointers.
Thompson had 18 of his team-leading 21 points after the break, including 3s on back-to-back possessions that cut the lead to eight and highlighted SUNO’s 57.6-percent shooting clip in the second half.
“We got the win today, but we’re not as happy as we usually are with our effort and our execution on defense,” Patterson said. “You can win in the game and you can win morally if you play the way you’re capable of. We didn’t play up to what we’re capable of today.”
The Knights won the turnover battle by eight and outscored the Demons 23-14 in points off turnovers.
Led by Patterson’s 10 rebounds, the Demons had a plus-18 advantage on the glass and turned their 13 offensive rebounds into 15 points. Despite the 20 turnovers, the Demons had assists on 22 of their 31 field goals with 10 of the 11 Northwestern players who saw time recording an assist.
“One thing about this team is they share the ball,” Cabrera said. “These guys really like each other. The turnovers were careless turnovers from our veteran guards. It shows to us to never get comfortable. We have to get better no matter who the opponent is.”
In addition to Patterson’s career-best scoring output, JT Warren had his second double-figure scoring outing of the season, tallying 11 points.
Jamal Gibson (18) and Tony White (10) also reached double figures for SUNO.
The Demons will start their longest in-season break of the year as they will return to action Dec. 29 at Texas. Tipoff is set for 11 a.m. inside the Moody Center.