LAKE CHARLES – The Northwestern State men's basketball team entered its first matchup with McNeese earlier this month looking for a spark.
 
Three weeks later as the Demons and Cowboys wrap up their two-game season series with a 7 p.m. Monday tipoff on ESPN+ inside the Legacy Center, Northwestern State again finds itself looking for a pivot point.
 
The good news for the Demons (5-15, 3-4 Southland Conference) is they can draw from that experience from the first time they faced the Cowboys (18-2, 7-0). In that matchup – a 68-59 McNeese win Jan. 8 in Prather Coliseum – Northwestern State played arguably its best defensive game of the season to that point.
 
The momentum gathered, even from a loss, helped the Demons right the ship and start a three-game win streak in their next outing.
 
"It was most definitely a turning point," said junior guard Chase Forte, who enters the game on a career-long, three-game streak of double-figure scoring games. "We played with them and battled them. After that, we felt like we could play with anyone in the conference. That got our confidence up and made us feel like we could make some noise in this league."
 
Northwestern State started making noise in large part because of its improved defense and rebounding.
 
Starting with the first meeting against McNeese, the Demons enjoyed a five-game run where NSU held its opponents to 40.4 percent shooting or below. Additionally, the Demons either won or tied in the rebounding battle in that same timeframe.
 
At that point, the 68 points the Cowboys scored were the fewest NSU allowed to a Division I team.
 
With the return game, however, first-year head coach Rick Cabrera expects certain things to be different Monday night while reminding his team of the value of defense and rebounding.
 
"One, playing on the road is always a challenge," he said. "Two, they are a very good team, a very well-coached team. Had we made three or four different plays (in the first game), we could have won that game. We don't back down to anyone. We just prepare for it. It's a one-day prep. You go out, get better and try to win the game."
 
The Demons saw improvement in the first meeting with the Cowboys and will look for more Monday night following Saturday's loss to Texas A&M-Corpus Christi. Northwestern State's defense slumped against the Islanders, allowing them to shoot 51.6 percent from the field and build a 14-point first-half lead, rendering a much-improved, second-half performance moot.
 
Corpus became the first team to outrebound the Demons since Lamar in the Jan. 6 conference opener and shot 47.3 percent from the field overall – the highest percentage for a Demon opponent since Lamar.
 
NSU's first meeting with McNeese, which came at nearly the midpoint of NSU's 31-game regular season, served as an overall turning point for the Demons as a whole as well as them as individuals in Forte's eyes.
 
A junior guard who transferred from Gulf Coast State, Forte has settled in as conference play has arrived. In the Demons' seven league games, Forte is averaging 10 points, four rebounds, 2.9 assists and a steal per game.
 
"Before that game, I had some struggles," he said. "After that, I settled in. The next game against UIW, I had a great performance (scoring a career-high 18 points). It was a turning point for me and for a lot of other guys on the team. As I said at the beginning of the year, I want to do whatever it takes for my team to win. Rebounding, scoring, playmaking, whatever it takes to help my team win."