THIBODAUX – After escaping an upset bid by Southeastern Louisiana Thursday night, Northwestern State tries to avenge its biggest blemish of 2013 Saturday afternoon when the red-hot Demons carry a seven-game win streak into a 4 p.m. visit to Nicholls State.

The Demons (17-6 overall, 11-2 in the Southland Conference) were thumped 93-78 in Natchitoches on Jan. 17 by the Colonels (6-16, 5-7). Northwestern, a game out of first in the league race, squared accounts last week on its' other league loss (80-74 at Oral Roberts) and veteran coach Mike McConathy is hoping to even the score against Nicholls.

“They took us to the woodshed in our building and played a wonderful game,” he said. “We know how good they can be because we saw it first-hand. I don't think motivation is an issue for us coming into Stopher Gym. We've simply got to play much better than we did in the first meeting with Nicholls, and play with the toughness we showed late in the game at Hammond (Thursday night).”

Northwestern got a go-ahead 3-pointer with 15 seconds left by James Hulbin, and two clinching free throws with 1.1 seconds remaining from Jalan West, Thursday night in a 79-76 victory at fourth-place Southeastern Louisiana. The Demons sank 13 of their final 15 free throws to hold off SLU's rally that included coming back from a 19-point deficit to take three leads in the final two minutes on its homecourt.

Nicholls has dropped its last four games, including a 63-51 decision Thursday night at home to league-leading

Stephen F. Austin, which has a one-game edge over Northwestern. The Colonels have one of the league's dynamic seniors, burly post player Fred Hunter, who leads the conference with a 19.4 scoring average, is fifth in rebounding (7.5 per game) and fourth in shooting aim (53.3 percent). He had 27 points and 11 rebounds against the Demons in Natchitoches.

Northwestern hasn't won eight games in a row since twice winning eight straight in the second half of the 2005-06 season, with a BracketBusters 66-63 loss at Utah State the only hiccup in a 16-1 stretch before a second-round NCAA Tournament defeat to West Virginia.

Northwestern maintains the NCAA lead in scoring at 84.1 points per game and despite snagging only three steals at SLU, including a pivotal one by West with 58 seconds left, retained the No. 4 national ranking in steals per game (10.3). The Demons are 12th in the country averaging 16.5 assists per game.

Junior forward DeQuan Hicks set the pace with 14.4 points per game and is 11th nationally by shooting 57.5 percent from the floor. Senior guard Shamir Davis, who sank 9 of 10 free throws in a clutch 15-point performance at SLU, scores 13 per game while Hulbin is at 12.6 (and team bests of 6.3 rebounds and 44 percent 3-point aim) and West is contributing 10.3 points per game.

West is 11th in the country in steals (2.6 pg), 11th in assist-turnover ratio (plus 2.8) and 42nd in assists (5.3).

The contest can be heard on the Demon Sports Network, flagshipped by 100.7 KZBL FM in Natchitoches and including 92.1 KSYR FM in Shreveport and 99.9 KTEZ FM in Many. A free audio stream is available on the NSUDemons.com website, beginning with the women's matchup between the schools at 2 o'clock Saturday.

The game is the second in a stretch of five consecutive road games for the Demons, who play Tuesday night at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi. They are not home again until A&M-CC visits March 7.