By Jason Pugh, Northwestern State Associate Athletic Director for External Relations; featured photo by Chris Reich, NSU Photographic Services
NATCHITOCHES – The Northwestern State men’s basketball followed one of its worst performances of the 2024-25 season with one of its best.
The Demons returned home and found the friendly confines of Prather Coliseum again to their liking as they snapped a two-game losing streak with a 79-63 Southland Conference victory against league newcomer UTRGV on Monday night.
“I’m very proud of these young men,” second-year head coach Rick Cabrera said. “Based on what we did Saturday, these guys bounced back. We had a long Saturday – played the worst game we played all season and were on the bus for 12 hours because of a malfunction. We had a pretty tough practice (Sunday) in regard to getting after it. Our guys bounced back. We changed the lineup to give some guys some spacing, and when we did that, we scored the most points we have (in conference play).”
The Demons (10-12, 7-5) shook off a 22-point loss at East Texas A&M by playing airtight defense in the first half, limiting the visiting Vaqueros (13-10, 5-7) to 25.9-percent shooting in the opening half.
One of the nation’s top 3-point shooting teams in terms of volume, UTRGV hit just 4 of 18 long-range shots in the opening half, allowing the Demons to build a 14-point halftime lead.
“These guys understood personnel,” Cabrera said. “For me, personnel is extremely important in scouting – knowing strengths and weaknesses and what we need to take away. They did a great job of that. At this level of conference play, you have to be detail-oriented, and these guys listened and figured it out.”
The Vaqueros hit four of their first six 3-pointers and built a 12-7 lead before the Demons answered with a game-turning 16-0 run across a 6:30 stretch of the first half. Northwestern spread the wealth offensively during the run, a theme that continued throughout the night.
Six players scored in the 16-0 surge with only freshman Justin Redmond hitting more than one bucket in the stretch. Redmond’s deep 3-pointer erased a 12-11 UTRGV lead and put the Demons ahead for the final 32:23 of the contest.
While the run featured Northwestern’s offensive depth, junior guard Landyn Jumawan had the hottest hand in the opening 20 minutes, sinking all five of his 3-point attempts.
“It’s all God,” Jumawan said. “I came in (Sunday) and we had a great service, preparation and everything. I came into today’s game confident. We trust in our coaches and our preparation, and it just took over.”
Jumawan, who finished with 15 points, was one of four Demons to reach double figures, joined by Micah Thomas (18), Addison Patterson (13) and Love Bettis (12).
Bettis, Patterson and Jumawan all had three assists to tie for the team lead as Northwestern shot 54.2 percent from the field in the second half en route to posting its highest point total of the season against a Division I team.
“Coming into this game our emphasis was moving the ball,” Bettis said. “When we did that, guys got great shots all night. (Jumawan) is in the gym putting in work all the time, so I have 100 percent confidence in him. Every time he shoots, I think it’s going in.”
After Northwestern built a 24-point lead with 14:26 to play, UTRGV answered with a 9-0 run to cut the lead to 15 with 11:32 to play. The teams traded runs throughout the final 10-plus minutes with the Vaqueros cutting the lead to 10 on a Howie Fleming Jr. three-point play at the 2:45 mark.
Northwestern closed the game on a 10-4 surge, knocking down eight of 10 free throws following Bettis’ driving layup with 2:29 to play.
Defensively, the Demons never let up, holding the Vaqueros to 6-for-33 shooting from the 3-point line. Entering the game, UTRGV averaged 10.5 made 3-pointers per game.
“That’s been our staple, but our Achilles heel has been scoring,” Cabrera said. “We scored a lot of points off of our defense. We added more guys to pressure the basketball. Offensively, we had more spacing out there. We shortened the rotation, changed the lineup. It needed to be done. These guys excelled at that, and I look forward to the remaining eight games we have left.”
The Demons return to action Saturday when they start a two-game road trip at McNeese. Tipoff is set for 4 p.m. inside the Legacy Center.