NATCHITOCHES – Northwestern State's explosive offense has regained its kick in a three-game winning streak while the Demons' defense has shown newfound tenacity, traits coach Mike McConathy hopes his team will demonstrate again Saturday as Abilene Christian makes its first visit to Prather Coliseum for a 3 p.m. Southland Conference basketball contest.

The Demons (8-11 overall, 4-4 in the Southland) whipped another Southland newcomer, Incarnate Word (16-4, 4-3) Thursday night, building a 30-point second-half lead in a 100-86 victory before 2,512 fans in Prather Coliseum. Abilene Christian (7-14, 1-6) lost its third straight Thursday night, falling 64-48 at league-leading Stephen F. Austin.

NSU became only the second team to hold Incarnate Word under 40 percent shooting aim. Meanwhile the Demons posted their fifth 100-point game of the season while sinking 51 percent of their shots, including 11 of 18 on 3-pointers.

In the winning streak, launched with road wins last week at Central Arkansas and Oral Roberts, Northwestern has made 47 percent overall, a sparkling 56 percent on 3-pointers and an even more impressive 86 percent at the free throw line. The Demons have averaged 88 points, right at their season's average that stands second in the country.

ACU might try to slow the pace since it is averaging only 52 points in its last three losses. The Wildcats have been without their top two scorers, Harrison Hawkins and LaDarrien Williams, who contributed a combined 46.5 points per game in the first two Southland contests but have been sidelined since.

"It's a challenge for us to transition from Thursday to Saturday and two very different styles of play by our opponents," said Demon coach Mike McConathy. "Abilene is very well coached and presents us issues with matchups that we will need to resolve in order to be successful."

Northwestern is getting 19.4 points per game by sophomore point guard Jalan West, 15.9 from senior forward DeQuan Hicks, 14.5 by freshman guard Zeek Woodley, and 13.1 from senior guard Brison White. West posted his second career double-double Thursday night with 27 points and 10 assists, while White had a career-best 24 points.

Woodley is seventh nationally with his 61.8 shooting percentage. West ranks 39th in the country in scoring, ninth in steals per game (2.6), 13th in assists (6.2) and 45th in free throw aim (86.4 percent). In the win streak, he has drained 12 of 19 behind the 3-point arc.

Other players are pitching in. Junior center Marvin Frazier has climbed to 44th nationally in blocks per game (2.4) and snagged nine rebounds Thursday. Senior guard Gary Stewart drained all three of his 3-point tries in his best outing since December knee surgery.

"We are getting more quality minutes from guys throughout the roster, even if they might not necessarily stat out impressively on the box score," said McConathy. "It might be getting a crucial rebound, setting a pick that lets somebody get free, picking up a charge, or in other ways, or a timely basket, and because of the contributions from everyone, we're a much better team now than we were two weeks ago."

Northwestern is one game out of fifth in the loss column of the Southland standings entering the ninth of 18 league games. The ACU contest is the second in a four-game homestand that continues next Thursday against McNeese State (6-14, 4-4) and wraps up next Saturday against Nicholls (9-8, 6-2).

Saturday afternoon's matchup between the Demons and Wildcats will be broadcast on the Demon Sports Network, flagshipped by 100.7 FM KZBL in Natchitoches and including 99.9 KTEZ FM in Many and 92.1 KSYR FM in Shreveport.

Free audio of the broadcast is available at NSUDemons.com, where a video stream with audio is available on a pay-per-view or subscription basis.