NATCHITOCHES – With a little more than eight minutes left in Saturday's Southland Conference men's basketball game, Northwestern State first-year head coach Rick Cabrera turned to the scorer's table and asked why the clock inside Prather Coliseum seemed to be moving slowly.
 
It only seemed to be moving slowly for Cabrera and the Demons, who put together a ruthlessly efficient second half to steamroll visiting UIW 97-71 and give Cabrera the first Southland Conference win of his career.
 
"If you allow it, losing can bring the worst out of you," Cabrera said. "When you win, it brings out the best in you. I haven't been in this position. I can face it. We've lost a lot of games. I wanted that clock to tick and tick. Even during timeouts, I wanted it to run. Now we have to build off it. This isn't football. We play Monday. We don't have a week to celebrate it."
 
Runs had defined much of the non-conference season for the Demons (3-13, 1-2), who often were on the wrong end of scoring droughts.
 
That pendulum swung massively back in the Demons' direction Saturday afternoon.
 
Buoyed by an 11-0 run across the final 3:37 of the first half, Northwestern State outscored UIW (5-11, 0-3) 37-9 in a span of 11:01 that bridged halftime and gave the Demons their first 20-point lead of the game. That defensive effort came on the heels of holding McNeese to 40 percent shooting on Monday night.
 
"In practice this week, we have a drill where we split up four guys per team, four on four, and the first team to get 10 stops wins," Cabrera said. "It's been our most intense drill of the season. I'm mad that I didn't put it in earlier. There's been some combativeness, some arguing. It's been crazy, and it paid off. If you defend and rebound, it's going to pay off."
 
That defensive effort – and corralling a spate of early turnovers -- sparked an offensive renaissance in the second half. Northwestern State shot 73.9 percent from the field in the second half, including a 5-for-8 performance from the 3-point line, in the final 20 minutes while cutting its turnovers from 12 to five in the same span.
 
Overall, the Demons shot a season-best 60 percent from the floor.
 
Chase Forte embodied the Demons' second-half mantra. Forte committed four first-half turnovers but finished the game with career highs in points (18) and assists (7) while grabbing a game-high seven rebounds. Forte played turnover-free basketball in the second half, scoring eight points and handing out three assists.
 
"The stop at the end of the first half was a big one," Forte said. "When we get rolling, Jimel got a couple of steals. Braelon (Bush) got a couple of steals. That's when we knew it was our time to put our foot on their necks. This game is a turnaround for us. Our confidence is up. If we build off this, we'll be a team to beat in this conference."
 
Forte was one of six Demons who had at least four rebounds as NSU won the battle of the boards 39-17, marking its largest margin on the glass since outrebounding Southwestern Adventist by 25 on Dec. 18, 2021.
 
Forte also was one of five Demons who reached double figures – another first for NSU against a Division I opponent this season. He was one of five Demons who notched career highs in scoring, joining Jimel Lane (20), Duane Posey (16), Chris Mubiru (11) and Karlin Hardy (4).
 
Hardy's points were the first of his three-year NSU career while Bush added 14 points – all in the second half.  
 
While Forte stuffed the stat sheet, Lane did so on the offensive end while mixing in a highlight-reel block and a steal that led to a massive runout dunk that put the Demons up 23 with 7:35 to play.
 
"Once we got to the second half, things started to flow more in how we wanted to flow," said Lane, who shot 7 for 11 from the field and scored 13 of his 20 points in the second half. "That's how we need to play every game. We go hard in practice multiple times a week, and it's paying off now."
 
Mubiru's 11 points came mostly via the 3-pointer as the freshman from Philadelphia sank a career-high three shots from distance, helping the Demons knock down 9 of 17 long-range shots on a night where Cliff Davis, NSU's leading scorer and the nation's No. 2 maker of 3-pointers, hit just one and finished with six points.
 
Mubiru and Lane combined for six of NSU's 3-pointers, shooting a combined 6-for-9 from the arc. Like the Demons as a whole, Mubiru has kept his confidence high after a tough start to the season.
 
After missing his first 10 career 3-pointers, Mubiru has shot 40.7 percent (11 for 27) from 3-point range in his past eight games.
 
"It came from reps in the gym after practice when nobody was watching," Mubiru said of his confidence. "Reps after reps. I kept believing in myself, and the confidence built."
 
Sky Wicks paced UIW with 17 points while Alex Anderson (15) and Josh Akpovwa (14) also cracked double figures. Apokvwa gave the Demons fits early, scoring 12 of his points in the first 22:23 of the game before being held to two points the rest of the way.
 
The Demons return to action Monday when they host HCU in the finale of a three-game homestand. Tipoff for that game has been moved to 2 p.m. because of expected wintry weather in the area.