HAMMOND – Northwestern State has won two of its last three games and looked sharp last Saturday in a 13-point win at McNeese, starting a string of four straight Southland Conference road games.

The next one, Wednesday night at Southeastern Louisiana, could be the most daunting.

The Lions (12-8 overall, 5-2 in the Southland) are riding a 16-game homecourt winning streak at the University Center, including nine victories this season. They've taken their last three conference games overall, adding a triumph at Abilene Christian before home wins over McNeese (79-75) and Houston Baptist (83-71) last Saturday.

Southeastern's home win streak is the 10^th-best in the country.  The Lions are off to their best start in the Southland since 2004-05 heading into the 7:30 contest against NSU, following a 5:30 women's contest between the schools.

The Lions have three primary scorers: point guard Marlain Veal (13.5 average), forward Moses Greenwood (12.9) and guard Davon Hayes (12.6).

"Greenwood in the middle is very effective. Veal on the perimeter is very tough, a really quick, quick guard. They have good players," said Demons' coach Mike McConathy. "Coach Jay Ladner has done a remarkable job. Sixteen wins in a road at home, that's really impressive."

The Demons (8-9 overall, 2-4 in the Southland) have played very well on the road at times, notably in wins at UTEP and last Saturday at McNeese, and in opening a 23-point first-half lead in Bossier City against UL Monroe. NSU threatened an upset at Mississippi State, within one point in the final 90 seconds of a 65-59 loss.

"We've played well on the road several times, and we've won a few of those," said McConathy. "I've heard it said that one road win is equal to two home wins, because of the impact. We don't look at going on the road as being totally negative and we have shown a lot of toughness away from Prather Coliseum."

NSU shot 55 percent at McNeese overall and from 3-point territory, and held the Cowboys to 39 percent aim while outrebounding them. The Demons looked as efficient offensively and as tenacious defensively as they have since losing leading scorer Zeek Woodley to a broken wrist Dec. 19 and key swingman Malik Metoyer to a season-ending knee injury a few days later.

"We're getting a little familiar with each other and we are understanding it takes a greater effort from everybody to succeed," said McConathy. "We're hungrier than we have been. We've battled through obstacles and things that can distract us from the task we collectively have, and we've done a better job of being zeroed in as of late.

"Some guys got in the gym and put some extra work in, and you can see it's helping them tremendously," he said. "We've got to continue to do the little things, take what our opponents give us, and take things away from them. If they're really good inbounding and scoring, we've got to stop that. If they score in transition, we need to cut that down. We need to make them score in different ways."

After having only a six-man rotation due to injuries and absences in its previous outing against Sam Houston State, NSU returned to a 10-man rotation at McNeese and got contributions down the line.
 
"I saw a huge difference in the play of Tanner Hamilton, Jordan Bell and Josh Boyd. Iziahiah Sweeney and Ishmael Lane had great starts to the game, and Josh Boyd and Sabri Thompson were really good in the second half. Tra'von Joseph had consistent impact. We got 18 quality minutes out of Bailey Walker," said McConathy. "When that level of collective effort happens, we are a tough matchup."

Thompson is averaging 22.5 points and making 49 percent of his 3-pointers in the last four games, raising his overall scoring average to 12.3 and his conference-only rate to 18 per game.

In Southland play, Joseph is contributing 12 points and 6.7 rebounds while making 55 percent of his shots. Devonte Hall is scoring 11.5 per game while Boyd is at 10.8 per contest.

The contest will be carried on the Demon Sports Network, flagshipped by 100.7 FM KZBL in Natchitoches and including 92.1 KSYR FM in Shreveport and 103.1 FM KWLA in Sabine Parish.

The Demons play at Lamar Saturday afternoon. They will be at home again on Saturday, Feb. 4 against Stephen F. Austin, after a Feb. 2 visit to Central Arkansas.