NATCHITOCHES –  Northwestern State hopes to surge into first place in the Southland Conference basketball standings during a three-game homestand over the next two weekends, beginning Thursday evening in Prather Coliseum against Nicholls State.
 
The 7:30 matchup between the visiting Colonels (3-11 overall, 2-2 in the SLC) and the Demons (10-5, 4-1), one game behind Stephen F. Austin in the league standings, follows a women's contest between the schools tipping off at 5:30. Both games can be seen on ESPN3.
 
The Demons have won seven of their last nine and are the second-highest scoring team in the country, averaging 84.3 points per game. Leading Northwestern is Southland Conference Player of the Week DeQuan Hicks, who tops the team in scoring (14.5 per game) and rebounding (6.9) and ranks 22nd nationally with his 57.5 percent shooting aim.
 
Senior guard Shamir Davis (12.9 points per game), redshirt freshman guard Jalan West (11.7) and senior forward James Hulbin (11.7) carry the other double-digit scoring averages for the Demons.  Ten NSU players have scored in double figures at least once this season, including junior guard Gary Stewart, who poured in a career-best 19 points Saturday in a 100-88 win at Central Arkansas and became the sixth Demon to lead the squad in scoring in a game.
 
Since Southland play began two weeks ago, the Colonels beat UCA at home 83-79 and won 64-63 at McNeese, while falling at home 76-63 to Oral Roberts and losing last Saturday 70-65 at Southeastern Louisiana.
 
Their senior forward,  Fred Hunter, is the Southland's second-leading scorer (16.8) and fifth-best rebounder (7.8). Nicholls also has the league's 15th-best scorer in freshman T.J. Carpenter (11.9).
 
In league play, Nicholls is the conference leader in team turnover margin, losing it 12.8 times in four games but forcing 16.5 turnovers, a plus 3.8 rate. The Demons are fourth at plus 3.4.
 
“It's always a challenging matchup for us. (Coach) J.P. Piper runs a different system than anybody else in our conference and it can be very tough to play against. His teams are well-coached and play hard,” said McConathy. “We're excited to be at home again and are hoping that getting our students back on campus and hopefully getting a good turnout from our fans can give us a big homecourt advantage.”
 
The Demons are 7-0 at home this season and have won 31 of their last 37 in Prather Coliseum, including a 31-point victory over Nicholls here after a 1-point win in Thibodaux.
 
It's Natchitoches Parish Appreciation Night with $5 tickets available in advance, either through the NSUDemons.com website or by calling the NSU ticket office at 357-4268 and using the promotional code “ParishNSU” to get the discounted price.
 
The games will be webcast free on ESPN3 online with Lyn Rollins and Van Chancellor as the announcers. Natchitoches radio station 100.7 FM KZBL is the flagship of the Demon Sports Network, whose broadcast will include 99.9 FM KTEZ in Many, 92.1 KSYR FM in Shreveport and the NSUDemons.com website with free audio by Patrick Netherton and Tony Taglavore.
 
Saturday afternoon, NSU plays host to Southeastern in a 1:00/3:00 doubleheader.