NORMAN, Oklahoma – The Northwestern State men's basketball team was where it wanted to be again against a power-conference team Monday night.
Facing their second high-major opponent in the past four days, the Demons led Oklahoma of the Southeastern Conference with less than 14 minutes to play in the second half before the Sooners found a late groove and pulled away for a 73-57 victory inside the Lloyd Noble Center.
"I'm proud of these kids, but I'm not happy because, on the road, you can't have 20 turnovers," second-year head coach
Rick Cabrera said. "This was a very winnable game. I think our guys deserved to put themselves in position in the last two minutes to win the game. At the seven- or eight-minute mark, we just turned it over and took some bad shots. It's a learning experience for us, and it doesn't define who we are. I just wanted it for them so bad, but it's hard to win on the road."
The Demons (1-2) held a six-point lead at halftime and pushed it to eight as
Micah Thomas hit a step-back jumper on the first possession of the second half.
The shot was part of a huge night for Thomas, an Oklahoma City native playing in his home state for the first time as a collegian. A transfer from Nicholls, Thomas led the Demons with 20 points, shooting 8 for 15 overall and 4 for 9 from 3-point range.
"Micah's a really talented young man," Cabrera said. "He has the ability to get his own shot and the ability to get others involved. It was great for him to come back home and play well in front of his family. I would have loved to get the win for him and our guys, but I'm not surprised by him. I've seen him do that before at previous spots. We get that consistently from him, we'll be darn good."
While Thomas was turning in the best performance of his three-game Demon career, he and his teammates found little answer for Oklahoma's Jalon Moore in the second half. An honorable mention All-Big 12 performer a season ago, Moore had 19 of his game-high 23 points in the second half, including a pair of pivotal 3-pointers as part of a personal 8-0 run that gave Oklahoma (2-0) the lead for good.
Moore's first 3 – a straight-ahead bucket off a feed from freshman guard Jeremiah Fears – put the Sooners up 44-42 with 13:16 to play. Moore added a layup before burying his second 3 – one that answered a Thomas jumper – to re-establish a five-point Oklahoma lead with 10:25 to play.
The second-half swing came after the Demons put together a finishing flourish to build their halftime lead.
Northwestern hit its final five shots from the field to cap a hot-shooting first 20 minutes in which it shot 58.3 percent (14 for 24) from the field. The halftime edge could have been larger if not for a spate of turnovers.
The Demons committed 10 turnovers in the first half and watched the Sooners turn them into 15 points. Eleven of Oklahoma's first 13 points came off Northwestern turnovers, helping the Sooners stay close despite shooting 33.3 percent from the field (10-for-30) and 3-for-14 from 3-point range.
The turnovers continued in the second half, contributing to Oklahoma's 32-6 edge in points off turnovers that erased the Demons' 8-1 advantage in blocked shots and a near-even performance on the boards.
In addition to Thomas' Northwestern career-high 20 points, junior
Willie Williams (11 points, 10 rebounds) put up the first double-double of the season for the Demons, who got a career-best four blocked shots from junior
Jerald Colonel. Thanks in part to the frontcourt's shot-blocking and altering ability, the Demons held Oklahoma to 43-percent shooting on the game.
"That was part of the reason we recruited size," Cabrera said. "Jerald did a phenomenal job. I'm proud of Willie. We knew this is what we could get from him. He's an elite rebounder and a good finisher around the rim. We need another guy to step in and score. We have to put up a few more points to win games like this, but this game was lost in points off turnovers."
Northwestern returns to action when it caps its three-game road trip Saturday at Rice. Tipoff is set for 2 p.m. in Houston.
