NATCHITOCHES – Prather Coliseum has been mostly a safe haven for Northwestern State in Southland Conference play, and the Demons appeared to be reaping the home cooking Thursday against Houston Baptist.

But the Huskies grinded NSU's offense to a halt and erased a 15-point, second-half lead en route to a 76-69 Demons loss.

Now NSU (7-18, 3-5 SLC) will aim to bounce back Saturday against a McNeese squad (9-16, 3-5 SLC) that topped NSU in Lake Charles one week ago.

The contest will be streamed on ESPN+ and can be heard on 95.9 FM, nsudemons.com and the NSU app with Patrick Netherton on the audio call.

"We've got to stay the course and do the things that we do well," said NSU coach Mike McConathy. "We have to take good shots and play fundamental basketball.

"We've had great assists numbers, but Thursday, we had just eight assists. The ball didn't move side to side, and it spent too much time in one person's hands. We need good ball movement."

The Demons ranked 18^th nationally with 366 total assists entering Thursday's game, and NSU had been able to decrease its turnovers in league play.

But the Huskies scored 25 points off 23 NSU turnovers, its second-highest total of the season.

The Demons were coming off one of their best turnover performances with just eight at McNeese, a group that ranks 31^st nationally with 15.8 turnovers forced per game.

The Huskies forced 17 of NSU's 23 turnovers in the second half to chip away at NSU's 15-point lead built early in the second half.

The Demons suffered seven turnovers in the final 2:50 that prevented a team that's had strong finishes, particularly at home. But HBU scored the last 13 points as the Demons went scoreless for the final 5:32.

"We didn't play well in the last three minutes, and I think some of our guys were tired," McConathy said. "That happens, and that doesn't mean we don't have good players because we do.

"We just had a bad three minutes, and we have to figure out how to have a good three minutes at the end against McNeese. The first part of the game was phenomenal and we did some great things – we played Demon basketball. But early in the second half, we took quick shots that were open, but they weren't the best shots we could have taken."

NSU put together runs of 20-8 against TAMU-CC, 27-9 against UIW and an 18-3 run against HBU on the road to secure each of their SLC victories.

The recent outlier was Saturday at McNeese when the Cowboys pulled away with an 18-8 run to end the game in a 93-84 McNeese win.

NSU and McNeese are tied for sixth in the league with six games remaining as teams jockey for one of the four byes.

The top two teams get a double bye with seeds No. 3 and No. 4 earning a single bye in the Southland Conference Tournament, which takes place March 9-13 for the final time in the Merrell Center in Katy, Texas.

HBU (8-13, 4-4 SLC) is in the fourth slot with a one-game lead on the Demons after Thursday's win, and Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (16-8, 3-4) is also ahead of the Demons.

But NSU plays four of its final six games at home, where the Demons are 2-1 in SLC play.

Freshman center Kendal Coleman logged his 12^th double double of the season and 11^th in the last 15 games with 18 points and 12 rebounds. He also accounted for three blocks, and he has multiple blocks in five of his last six contests.

He is the league's second-leading rebounder with 9.5 per game.

NSU's point guard trio of Carvell Teasett, Brian White and Emareyon McDonald combined for 27 of their 32 points in the first 22 minutes Thursday, but eight of the group's 11 turnovers came in the final 18 minutes. In the last 14 games, the point guard group is averaging nearly 27 points per game.

McNeese is coming off a shoot-out loss at Southeastern, 91-86.

The Cowboys are finding their offensive stroke, topping 50 percent from the field in their last two games, which includes their season-high 93 points scored against a Division I opponent in Saturday's game with NSU.

Zach Scott scored 23 points against NSU with Christian Shumate following that with 23 points at SLU.

Shumate's 12 points per game leads six Cowboys that average at least nine points per game.