NATCHITOCHES – Saturday afternoon at 3 in its last home game this month, the red-hot Northwestern State basketball team aims to continue surging toward the top of the Southland Conference race if the Demons can deliver a standings-shuffling defeat of visiting Nicholls.

The Demons (10-11 overall, 6-4 in the Southland) have won five straight, three at home in Prather Coliseum, where after Saturday, they won't play again until March 6. Northwestern can keep climbing toward one of the coveted top two spots in the conference by topping the Colonels (10-9, 7-3) with eight games to go in the regular season. The top two teams get byes into the semifinals of the Southland Tournament, which rewards its champion with an NCAA Tournament bid.

Stephen F. Austin (21-2, 10-0) cemented its status as the king of the hill in the league by smashing Nicholls 93-64 Thursday night, ending a three-game win streak by the Colonels, who slipped out of a second-place tie with Sam Houston State (16-6, 8-2). After hosting Nicholls, Northwestern visits Sam Houston next Thursday night.

While eye-popping scoring ability has been the Demons' hallmark in the last two seasons and during their current five-game winning streak, defense and rebounding were obvious cornerstones of Thursday night's 85-74 victory over McNeese.

In front of a season-high Prather crowd of 2,812, the Demons picked off 12 steals and harassed the Cowboys into a season-worst 23 turnovers. They also outrebounded McNeese 45-37, a surprising margin considering the Cowboys had outboarded Oral Roberts by 24 and Central Arkansas by 20 in the last two games.

Despite sinking only 33 percent of its first-half shots and 40 percent overall, Northwestern wound up just two points shy of its season scoring average (87.4) that ranks second nationally. Getting 24 offensive rebounds, eight by senior DeQuan Hicks, and posting 21 points off turnovers, offset the worst shooting performance by NSU in its winning streak.

Maintaining his hot hand was sophomore point guard Jalan West, who nailed 5-of-8 on 3-pointers while posting 30 points and dishing out eight assists. It was his third 30-point performance this season, most by any Southland competitor, and raised his season scoring rate to 19.6 points per game.

West, who has 28 assists in the last three games, ranks 38th nationally in scoring, 11th in assists per game (6.4) and seventh in steals (2.7 average). He is 45th in free throw aim at 86.5 percent and 47th in assist-to-turnover ratio (plus 2.5).

Hicks is 43rd in the country after his eighth double-double performance, matching his career high with 13 rebounds overall and scoring 19 points. His 15.7 scoring average is seventh in the Southland and his 7.7 rebounding norm is second.

Freshman Zeek Woodley is sixth in the NCAA and tops the conference at 61.1 percent in shooting aim, and ranks 12th in the conference with a 14.0 scoring average. Senior Brison White is 14th in the league's scoring ranks at 13.8 per game.

The No. 2 ranking in scoring is one of six top 30 NCAA stat rankings by the Demons. They are sixth in steals per game (9.5), 10th in turnover margin (plus 4.1), 17th in assists (16.1 average), 25th in blocks (5.8 pg) and 30th in free throw aim (74.5 percent).

Nicholls is led by last week's Southland Conference Player of the Week, senior Dantrell Thomas, whose 16.4 average is fifth in the conference. Another senior guard, Jeremy Smith, is scoring 13.6 per game. Both shoot over 50 percent, with Smith at 57.0 (third in the Southland)and Thomas at 53.5 (10th).

The Colonels shocked the Demons in their last trip into Prather, whipping last year's NCAA Tournament entry 93-78, and Northwestern had to rally on the road late last season for an 84-79 win in Thibodaux.

Saturday afternoon's game caps a four-game homestand. The Demons play next week at Sam Houston and Lamar, then visit SFA on Feb. 22 and go to Southeastern Louisiana and New Orleans before coming home for the last two regular-season games March 6 and 8.