CONWAY, Arkansas – Win, and the Northwestern State men's basketball is in its first Southland Conference Tournament since 2014-15.

That's the Demons' (13-15, 10-9 SLC) straight forward mission Saturday at Central Arkansas (10-20, 9-10 SLC) to finish the regular season.

Lose, and the Demons can still get in, but the math and tie-breaker scenarios get convoluted as six teams are in within two games of each other, fighting for five spots in the eight-team tournament.

NSU, which enters the finale in a tie for fifth place with Lamar (16-14, 10-9 SLC) can be Katy, Texas-bound with either a McNeese loss (to Lamar) or a Texas A&M-Corpus Christi loss (to cellar-dwelling Houston Baptist).

McNeese (14-16, 9-10 SLC), the Islanders (13-17, 9-10 SLC) and UCA are in a log-jam in a tie for seventh place.

If the Demons lose, and all three seventh-place teams win, NSU is the odd-man out as part of a five-way tiebreaker at fifth place.

That's the only scenario in which NSU doesn't make a postseason return despite coach Mike McConathy and the NSU staff successfully melding eight newcomers with seven returners and weathering losing leading returning scorer LaTerrance Reed early in the season.

"I just know if we win, we're in," NSU coach Mike McConathy told Tim Fletcher on Fletcher's radio show Friday morning. "I leave all that tiebreaker stuff to my assistants and the sports information department.

"If somebody helps us out, great. But we know what we've got to do Saturday. This team has been one of the most fun to coach because at times, they move the ball and play such a free-flowing style that it's really fun to watch."

There's a brighter side to the six pages of tiebreakers that the Southland Conference released Thusday evening.

The Demons are still in play for a first-round bye as the No. 4 seed with a win Saturday.

If Lamar beats McNeese and Sam Houston State (18-12, 11-8 SLC) loses to league champion Stephen F. Austin (27-3, 18-1 SLC), the Demons get a first-round bye and don't play until Thursday.

Wednesday is the opening day of the tournament with the No. 5 and No. 8 seeds playing at 5 p.m. and the No. 6 and No. 7 seeds playing at 7:30 p.m. at the Leonard E. Merrell Center.

Other scenarios have NSU in seeds 5-8 as well depending on Saturday's results.

But before the Demons plan another road trip to Texas, they know they have to handle business in Arkansas.

"We just knew we have to win both games this week, and it didn't matter what other teams do," sophomore Trenton Massner said after NSU's 95-73 win Wednesday against UNO. "If you just take each game on its own, it doesn't matter what other teams do, we'll get in."

NSU would be in an even stronger postseason position had the Demons handled business in the first meeting with UCA.

The Demons played some of their best basketball in building a 16-point halftime lead against the Bears.

But UCA outscored NSU 52-28 in the second half with the help of 25 offensive rebounds.

NSU is one of the best rebounding teams in the league, ranking first in defensive rebounding and overall rebounding with the help of a defense that holds opponents to 40.7 percent shooting from the field (also league best).

But teams throughout the season have been able to corral key rebounds, including in both of Southeastern Louisiana's wins that allowed the Lions to sweep NSU.

"Getting key rebounds is paramount because if you go back to the Southeastern game Saturday, they had a tip-in at the end of the first half, and that could of certainly changed the outcome of the (95-92 loss) in which the Lions also scored at very end of the game," McConathy said. "We gave up numerous long rebounds to Central Arkansas, and they scored on those possessions and got them kick started.

"We played unbelievable basketball in the first half against UCA, but we've gotten into trouble this year when we haven't rebounded, been tough with the ball and make good decisions."

Playing a bunch of young players has created large momentum swings, both good and bad.

In 15 of 19 conference games, NSU has either led or trailed by 13 or more points.

In 10 of those 15 league contests, the Demons have either lost (or nearly lost) those leads or wiped out those large deficits.

The momentum certainly didn't swing Wednesday against UNO in a 95-73 win in the home finale.

The Demons used a methodical 27-10 run to build a 16-point lead and didn't look back behind the strength of sophomore Trenton Massner (13 points) and junior Jamaure Gregg (15 points, 10 rebounds).

Junior Jairus Roberson sunk four 3-pointers en route to a team-high 19 points. Roberson has made 72 3-pointers, ranking seventh all-time on NSU's single-season chart and just four away from a top-five season.

The Demons have scored at least 90 points in their last two games, the first time with those offensive outputs in consecutive games since 2015-16.