By Jason Pugh, Northwestern State Assistant Athletic Director for Media Relations
BATON ROUGE – In its return from Christmas break, the Northwestern State men’s basketball team maintained some of the offensive momentum it built in a Dec. 19 win against Southern-New Orleans.
However, the Demons were unable to maintain a strong first quarter of the game, falling to LSU 96-55 in a barrage of Tigers’ long-range shots and NSU turnovers Friday night in the Pete Maravich Assembly Center.
“I give (LSU coach) Matt McMahon and his team a lot of credit for how we played tonight,” first-year head coach Rick Cabrera said. “First 11 minutes were good, then they turned their defense up to another level. It was like they had six guys out there. Their size hurts us. We don’t have a lot of size. They played in the passing lanes, getting steals, taking the ball from guys. That hasn’t happened in previous games.”
After a sluggish start, Northwestern State (2-11) used a 5-0 run to take its first and then largest lead of the game. Freshman Chris Mubiru’s 3-pointer erased a two-point LSU (8-5) lead before Chase Forte extended the lead to 7-4 with a layup with 16:11 to play in the first half.
The Demons matched the Tigers punch for punch for most of the first 11 minutes of the game, never letting LSU build more than a seven-point lead. After Jimel Lane’s putback cut the Tigers’ lead to 21-16 with 8:59 to play in the half, things changed for the worse for the Demons.
LSU forced 13 first-half turnovers and turned them into 20 points. As the Tigers cranked up their defensive pressure, they also found their long-distance aim.
The Tigers hit 5 of 10 first-half 3-pointers, sinking five of their final eight. Coupled with a stretch where LSU sank six straight shots, the Tigers finished the half on a 26-5 run across the final 8:59.
“If we got graded on wins across the first 11 minutes, we’d probably be 11-2,” Cabrera said. “I’m not going to sugarcoat anything. We’re not a very good basketball team right now. We’re going to get there. We have another game to go, and another and another until they tell us we’re done. Right now, we are not a good basketball team. It’s on me, but I’m going to get us right.”
Northwestern State finished with a season-high 20 turnovers, one more than the Demons committed in their two previous games combined. LSU turned those miscues into 29 points, outscoring the Demons by 21 in that category.
LSU maintained its sharpshooting in the second half, connecting on 61.3 percent of its shots in the final 20 minutes. Behind a career 3-point shooting night from guard Mike Williams III, who hit six 3s, the Tigers shot 11-for-21 from long range.
That coupled with a frontline that featured 7-footer Will Baker (17 points), 6-10 Derek Fountain (10 points, 10 rebounds) and 6-10 Hunter Dean (11 points, 10 rebounds) allowed the Tigers to cruise to the victory.
“The most dangerous teams are the ones who can play inside and out,” Cabrera said. “When you have a big fellow like Will Baker and Hunter Dean looking like a young Tom Chambers, it’s a good balance between the inside and outside threat. When you have the right guys shooting 3s and making them, you become a deadly offensive team, which is why they scored 96 points.”
Ten Demons scored Friday night with Jimel Lane and Chase Forte leading the way with nine points each.
The Demons return to action Jan. 6 when they open Southland Conference play at Lamar. Tipoff is set for 6 p.m. inside the Montagne Center.