HOUSTON – The Northwestern State men's basketball team nearly wrote a perfect ending Saturday afternoon inside Tudor Fieldhouse, a place that long has been a house of horrors for it.
 
JT Warren's corner 3 put the Demons up one with six seconds remaining before homestanding Rice forced overtime on a free throw before holding off Northwestern in the extra period for a 77-75 non-conference victory.
 
"JT's the heart and soul of this team," second-year head coach Rick Cabrera said. "His energy is on 10 every day through the good and the bad. He deserved that moment. That wasn't a lucky shot. That's a shot he's worked on and is capable of making. The best ending would have been us down two with one second left and he makes the shot and wins the game."
 
A free throw from Rice's Kellen Amos with 1 second remaining in regulation forced overtime where the Demons (1-3) again had their chances to grab the first win program history against the Owls (3-1).
 
Jon Sanders II had six of his career-high 27 points in overtime, giving the Demons their final lead on a jumper with 4:05 to play that snapped a 66-all tie. His last bucket pulled Northwestern within 73-72 with 1:27 before Rice's Alem Huesinovic and Love Bettis exchanged 3-pointers to set up a wild final 27 seconds.
 
Micah Thomas swiped his third steal of the day to give the Demons possession with 21 seconds left before Amos' lone steal of the game forced Northwestern to foul with nine second to play. Amos again split his two free throw attempts to give Northwestern a chance to tie or win the game outright.
 
After a loose ball found its way to Bettis, his long 3-pointer was no good at the buzzer, putting a damper on a second half and overtime in which he hit 4 of 7 3-pointers and was a plus-5 rating.
 
It also kept the Demons from truly competing a rousing comeback that saw them erase a 13-point second-half deficit.
 
"I'm proud of these young men," Cabrera said. "They fought so hard. We fouled too much. They shot 38 free throws. There were a couple of possessions I could have done a better job coaching. Every game is a learning experience, and we are going to continue to get better."
 
The Demons committed eight first-half turnovers, leading to nine Rice points, and trailed by two at the half.
 
Northwestern trimmed the turnovers after the break, committing three in the final 25 minutes.
 
"We have to get better at taking care of the ball in the first half," Cabrera said. "Rice is a heck of a defensive team. You've got to be perfect with valuing that basketball. There will be turnovers during the game of basketball, but you have to be at 10 or below. We finished with (12). We got ourselves in a hole that hurt us offensively. The good thing is there are two halves to basketball, and we played better in the second half."
 
Sparked by Bettis and Sanders (17 points in the second half and overtime), the Demons shot 46.2 percent from the field in the final 25 minutes, including 7 of 15 from 3-point range.
 
The Owls' edge at the free-throw line – Rice made 26 of 38 free throws while Northwestern attempted 19, making 10 – proved large as well.
 
In addition to Bettis and Sanders, who combined for 39 of the Demons' 45 bench points, Addison Patterson had 17 points for Northwestern. Amos (16) led four Rice players in double figures as Huseinovic, Trae Broadnax and Denver Anglin all had 11.
 
"Talent for us is not an issue," Cabrera said. "We have to get the defensive stops at the right time. Being down 13, I can't sit here and say I knew we were going to take the lead, but I knew they weren't going to allow the emotions of the game to go in negative way. A lot of teams would have folded down 13 on the road. Not us. We don't do that."
 
The Demons return to action Tuesday when they host John Melvin in the start of a three-game homestand.