BEAUMONT, Texas – Something has to give Wednesday night at the Montagne Center when Northwestern State and Lamar, both riding winning streaks, collide in a key 7 p.m. Southland Conference basketball contest.
 
The Demons (14-9 overall, 7-2 in the Southland) have won five straight conference games, including road wins at McNeese and Central Arkansas. The Cardinals (15-8, 6-3) have won three straight after falling 74-62 at NSU two weeks ago on Jan. 25.
 
Pacing NSU in scoring is junior point guard Shamir Davis at 13.9 per game, with senior center William Mosley and senior guard Louis Ellis each with a 10.7 average. Mosley leads the Southland with his 9.8 rebounding average and is second nationally at 4.3 blocked shots per game.
 
Northwestern has its best SLC win streak in six seasons. The Demons can match their third-longest Southland streak in Mike McConathy's 13 seasons as coach with a victory over Lamar, which shot a subpar 33 percent against NSU in the first meeting. Since then, the Cardinals have hit at least 50 percent in their three wins.
 
“We did a really nice job against them two weeks ago,” said McConathy. “It's a matter of us defending well, especially against their three-headed monster of (Mike) James, (Devon) Lamb, and (Anthony) Miles.  They are all explosive scorers and very fine basketball players.”
 
The trio averages a combined 42 points, led by James at 16.3 per game and Miles with a 14.7 average.  Miles has averaged 18 points in the last five games, has five 20-point outings and a high of 31 this year. James has a 17.5 average in the last six contests, scored 29 against No. 1 Kentucky among his eight 20-point outputs, and has a high of 31 this year and 52 last year.
 
NSU has held its opponents to 23.5 percent 3-point shooting in the Demons' five-game winning streak. McNeese, Lamar, SLU and UCA recorded a combined 8-48 (17 percent) on 3-pointers before A&M-CC shot 40 percent (8-20) on Saturday. The Demons' last three opponents have shot a combined 33.5 percent (64-191) overall.
 
McConathy says there are two keys to NSU's recent success.
 
“It goes back to defense and taking care of the ball. We've defended the 3-point line well, and that's made a big difference. We're contesting shots, making them shoot over extended arms,” he said. “We had nine turnovers Saturday, two from stepping out of bounds underneath the basket. That means we mishandled the ball only seven times, and that's really good.”
 
The Demons are now 12-0 when they hold opponents under 70 points. They are also 12-0 when they shoot better than their foes.
 
NSU is fourth nationally with 7.0 blocked shots per game, including nine in the first Lamar game. The Demons are ninth in the country with a 9.3 steals average, while Lamar is 23^rd at 8.7 per game.
 
Mosley has taken over 10^th place on the career Southland rebounding list with 1,036, cracking the top 10 against A&M-CC. He is 12 away from passing Randy White of Louisiana Tech for ninth.
 
Mosley now has 430 career blocked shots, 12^th in NCAA history. He needs seven to tie Lorenzo Coleman of Tennessee Tech for 11^th, and needs 11 to get to 441, breaking into the NCAA career top 10 by tying Emeka Okafor of Connecticut. He is 23 away from equaling the 453 by Georgetown great Alonzo Mourning for fifth-best all-time.
 
Last year, Mosley blocked 10 shots in a win at Lamar. He swatted away five against the Cardinals two weeks ago.
 
The game will be broadcast on the Demon Sports Network, flagshipped by 100.7 KZBL FM in Natchitoches and including 99.9 KTEZ FM in Many and 92.1 KSYR FM in Shreveport. The audio will be streamed on nsudemons.com and Twitter updates will be provided at the @NSUDemonsMBB account.