TULSA, Okla. – Northwestern State, coming off a winning rally from a 14-point deficit on the road Monday night, puts its share of the early lead in the Southland Conference basketball race on the line at preseason league favorite Oral Roberts Thursday night.
 
The Demons (9-4 overall, 3-0 in the Southland) share first place with Stephen F. Austin (12-1, 3-0). Oral Roberts (7-7, 2-0) hosts SFA on Saturday night and can take sole possession of the top spot in the standings by sweeping its home games, only the fourth and fifth Mabee Center appearances of the season for the Golden Eagles.
 
The 7:30 p.m. game can be seen on Fox College Sports nationally. The channel is available in many premium sports packages through cable and satellite subscribers.
 
ORU cruised past Southeastern Louisiana and Nicholls State on a New Orleans-area Southland swing last week to make its debut in the league after years of dominating the Summit League.
 
Northwestern rallied in the stretch, closing the game with a 20-4 run over the final five minutes Monday night to prevail 73-64 at Sam Houston State. That was the Demons' fourth-straight victory, and their sixth in the last seven outings.
 
Part of the reason for the successful stretch is how the nation's third-best scoring offense (83.8 average) is avoiding turnovers. The Demons have averaged just over 12 miscues in their last six games, nearly three below their season's average last year, which was the lowest turnover rate in the first 13 seasons at NSU for coach Mike McConathy.
 
Junior forward DeQuan Hicks had his third double-double of the season with game-high totals of 24 points and 13 rebounds, along with four assists and three steals. He is leading NSU in scoring (14.6) and rebounding (7.1).
 
Senior guard Shamir Davis is averaging 13 points and had a season-best seven assists at Sam Houston. Redshirt freshman guard Jalan West is averaging 12.3 points, five assists, 2.6 steals and sinking 80 percent of his free throws, while senior forward James Hulbin contributes 11.1 points and 6.8 rebounds with 50 percent shooting aim.
 
The Golden Eagles have the Southland's top scorer, forward Warren Niles (20.2 per game), and this week's Southland Player of the Week, center Damen Bell-Holter. He averaged 30.5 points and 10.5 rebounds while sinking 70 percent of his shots against SLU and Nicholls, and for the season is scoring 13.9 points and leading the conference at 9.1 rebounds per game.
 
The game broadcast will be carried by the Demon Sports Network, flagshipped by 100.7 FM KZBL in Natchitoches and including 92.1 KSYR FM in Shreveport and 99.9 KTEZ FM in Many. The audio will be streamed free on the NSUDemons.com website.
 
NSU stays on the northernmost swing in the Southland to visit Central Arkansas on Saturday afternoon. The Demons are home again next Thursday, Jan. 17 against Nicholls.