By Jonathan Zenk, Northwestern State Assistant Director of Communications; featured photo by Myrodge McGill, Texas A&M-Commerce
COMMERCE, Texas—Thank goodness Northwestern State doesn’t play again until Sunday.
We’ll need the break after this marathon game, as the Northwestern State men’s basketball team lost an 83-80 heartbreaker in triple overtime Wednesday at Texas A&M-Commerce to conclude the regular season.
“That was a heck of a game played by both teams,” first-year head coach Rick Cabrera said. “But unfortunately, some team had to lose and that team was us tonight. We had a number of self-inflicted mistakes that proved to be the difference. I give credit to them. They made us pay for those mistakes.”
NSU (9-22, 7-11) received a career-high 29 points from senior Justin Wilson, he fouled out in the final minute of the third overtime on a basket plus the foul from TAMUC’s Kwo Agwa following a Demons turnover.
To make matters worse, Agwa missed the free throw and it was tipped in by Evan Phelps to push the Lions (12-19, 6-12) lead to 82-80 with 32 seconds left.
The offensive board was one of 19 on the evening for TAMUC, turning into 19 second chance points for the home team.
After Phelps made just one of four free throws in the final 20 seconds, NSU had a chance to tie, but Jae Slack’s attempt from halfcourt was off the mark.
The same two teams meet again Sunday in the first round of the Southland Conference Tournament, as the Lions clinched the No. 7 seed with Wednesday’s results.
Triples in crunch time by each team ended both regulation and the second overtime.
With time running out in regulation, Kalen Williams, who scored a game-high 31 points, missed a difficult triple, but the rebound bounced off NSU to give the Lions another chance with less than two seconds left.
On the final opportunity, Alonzo Dodd inbounded the ball to Tommie Lewis in the corner. Being tightly guarded by two Demons, Lewis threw up a prayer that was answered to send it into overtime.
It was Lewis’ only made triple of the game, going 1-for-7 from deep.
“That was a really tough shot he hit,” Cabrera said. “In the timeout prior to that play, us coaches talked about whether to foul, but we decided the risk of fouling in the act of shooting a 3-pointer was too great. We forced him to take a really difficult shot.”
That was one of TAMUC’s six triples in 28 attempts in regulation, just 21.4 percent. The Lions did make three more in seven attempts in the overtime periods.
In the final minute of the second overtime, it was NSU’s time to make a 3-pointer in crunch time, as Cliff Davis, who went 2-for-9 from deep, buried a triple after a turnover to tie the game at 74.
Davis, who scored 10 points, joined Wilson and Forte as NSU’s double-digit scorers.
While the game ended in a high-scoring affair, it didn’t start that way, especially for the Demons.
In the first 14:30 of the game, NSU struggled offensively, scoring just 17 points, as it trailed 29-17.
But the Demons flipped a switch, finishing the half on a 17-2 run to head into recess with a three-point advantage.
Chase Forte scored seven of his season-high 25 points in that run, as he collected his first double-double of the year, grabbing a season-high 10 rebounds.
He also added three assists, three steals and two blocks.
As a team, the Demons blocked a season-high nine shots.
The run continued early in the second half, as Wilson and Forte scored the first seven points of the half to build a nine-point lead, NSU’s largest of the game, as the run ballooned to 24-3 dating to the first half.
Wilson led a Demons team that tallied 52 points in the paint.
“Justin is the heart and soul of this team,” Cabrera said. “He does everything for us and I hope he is recognized and is selected all-conference because he has earned it.”
But the Lions defense was stifling the remainder of regulation, as the Demons were held off the scoreboard for nearly five minutes and were limited to just 16 points in the final 17:25.
While TAMUC only made five shots in the second half, shooting just 20.83 percent, the Lions made 13 free throws among their 26 points to keep the game close and eventually send it into overtime.
A shot from Wilson with a minute left pushed NSU’s lead to 57-53, but a free throw and the answered prayer from the corner sent the game into overtime,
Khaliq Abdul-Mateen scored 12 points for the Lions, making two of his three triples in the second overtime.
Playing a rematch with the Lions is the first time the Demons play the team they finished the regular season with since 2006, when NSU knocked off UTSA twice in a row.