NATCHITOCHES -- The iconic Columns on Northwestern State's beautiful campus are being bathed in purple lighting Saturday night to honor Demons' basketball coach Mike McConathy after he recorded his 600th career win earlier Saturday in Prather Coliseum.

The Demons outran Lamar's Cardinals 96-84 to the delight of 1,823 fans at NSU's homecourt, including new university president Dr. Jim Henderson, who participated in a brief postgame ceremony commemorating McConathy's milestone win.

Only 33 coaches active at all levels of college basketball, which encompasses well over 800 institutions, have posted 600 career victories. McConathy is already the winningest coach in state college basketball history with his 248 triumphs for the Demons and 352 more at Bossier Parish Community College where he started the program and coached for 16 seasons before moving to NSU in 1999. He is in his 16th season running the program at the alma mater of his father, two uncles, and two sons, both of whom played for him earlier this century.

His parents, Demon legend John McConathy and wife Corene, along with oldest son Michael, named one of the Top 100 Players in Demon History in NSU's 2013 basketball centennial celebration, watched Saturday's game along with Connie McConathy, Mike's wife of 35 years.

Saturday evening, when McConathy and family walked into a Natchitoches restaurant, patrons gave him a standing ovation.

Dr. Henderson directed the Columns be lit in purple, an honor reserved exclusively for landmark accomplishments by people associated with the university. The Columns will remain bathed in purple overnight Saturday and also Sunday evening into Monday morning.

The Columns were once part of the Bullard Mansion, built in 1832. The mansion was the first building used when NSU was established in 1884 as the State Normal School. The old building was demolished in 1904 but the Columns remain and have long since been adopted as the distinctive official symbol of the university.