Demon Basketball | 11/5/2018 4:20:00 PM

NATCHITOCHES – Entering his 20^th season as Northwestern State's basketball coach, Mike McConathy has been involved in a lot of doubleheaders, but never one like what begins the 2018-19 slate in Prather Coliseum Tuesday night.

NSU's basketball contest against its oldest active rival, Centenary, is the second half of the "Bump, Set and Slam" doubleheader opening at 5:30 with the Lady Demon volleyball team's final home regular-season match, a Southland Conference contest against Southeastern Louisiana.

For the first time in at least a decade, admission is free for a Demon basketball home game. NSU volleyball home matches are free courtesy of the Demons Unlimited Foundation, a deal which will be extended for the basketball contest Tuesday night. The NSU-Centenary tip is projected for 7:15 or later.

"I like the idea," said McConathy. "We need a home game before we go on the road into high-level competition, and it provides fans who may not have seen our volleyball team a chance to catch two games on one night. It's a win-win for everybody."

It will be the first of three homecourt appearances for McConathy's team this month, with the others on Friday, Nov. 23 against Alabama A&M and the following Tuesday, Nov. 23, against UL Monroe.

McConathy becomes only the sixth coach in Southland Conference history to serve at least 20 seasons at one school. Deflecting attention on that milestone, he's focusing on a team that returns three regular starters and four other players who were part-time starters last season.

Senior center Ishmael Lane is unquestionably NSU's top player. The 6-8 Port Allen product Lane was McConathy's leading scorer (13.7 points per game), rebounder (7.2 average), shot blocker (1.8 per game) and most accurate 3-point shooter (37.8 percent) in 2017-18.

The Preseason All-Southland first-team selection ranks 31st on the school's career scoring list (1,038 points), 23^rd in rebounds (549) and eighth in blocked shots (101). If he matches last year's totals, he can finish 12^th all-time in scoring, eighth in rebounding and fourth in blocks.

Senior forward Malik Metoyer, from nearby Lakeview High School, and sophomore point guard C.J. Jones, who started the last 20 games of 2017-18, should figure prominently for NSU. The Demons will rely on junior college transfer LaTerrance Reed to bolster perimeter scoring after he scored 18 points a game and shot 38 percent on 3-pointers last season at Niagara (N.Y.) County Community College.

"We've got 10 guys ready to go and we will use our wave system," said McConathy. "Due to injuries and other factors, we should have closer to 15 players available soon. When you look over 19 seasons here, when have waves coming at teams, we've been at our best because our 10, 11, 12 guys who are fresh can compete favorably with the opponent's 6, 7, 8 good ones."

The Demons won't have acclaimed freshman point guard Brian White, the three-time Natchitoches Central High School Class 5A All-State selection, for at least Tuesday's opener. He is hobbled by an ankle sprain.

The NSU-Centenary rivalry dates back 96 seasons. The Gentlemen, now a Division III program, will play the game as an exhibition and open their regular season next week.
The Demons play three times in the first week of the season, visiting SMU Thursday night and BYU next Tuesday. They'll follow with visits to Rice and Houston before getting back home after Thanksgiving.

"It's a gauntlet right out of the gate, but we believe in playing strong competition," said McConathy. "We're certainly not taking Centenary for granted. The best team we've ever had, the 2005-06 team that beat Iowa in the NCAA Tournament, needed to score on our last possessions to beat East Texas Baptist in our opener and at Centenary later. Those guys will be well coached and highly motivated, and hopefully so will we."

NSU's game will be carried on 100.7 FM KZBL, the flagship station of the Demon Sports Network, with Patrick Netherton entering his 14^th season as the play-by-play announcer. A free audio stream and a pay-per-view or subscription video stream are available at NSUDemons.com, or through the Northwestern State Demons app.