LUBBOCK, Texas – A surge across the middle portion of the second half put the Northwestern State men's basketball team right where it wanted to be Friday night at Texas Tech.
The homestanding Red Raiders, however, closed strong as the Demons went cold down the stretch, falling 86-65 inside United Supermarkets Arena.
"Our guys fought hard and competed their tails off," second-year head coach
Rick Cabrera said. "The atmosphere here was high level. For our first road game of the season to be in a place like this and for us to compete like we did, I'm proud of our effort."
Trailing by 14 at the half, the Demons (1-1) found themselves down 19 before a flurry of 3-pointers allowed Northwestern to claw back into the game.
Starting with
JT Warren's 3-pointer with 12:49 to play, the Demons knocked down four straight long-range buckets across the next 2:58 to breathe some life into their offense. While Texas Tech (2-0) answered nearly every shot during the Demons' run of long-range accuracy, Northwestern had another 3-point push remaining in it.
A second-chance 3-pointer by
Micah Thomas and three Sanders free throws after he was fouled on a 3-point attempt helped pull the Demons within 11 points with 4:52 to play – the closest the Demons had been since trailing by 10 with 7:01 to play in the first half.
At that moment, the offensive pendulum swung away from the Demons.
In the final 4:52, Northwestern missed its next six field goal attempts and four free throws before Thomas ended the drought with a jumper at the 32 second mark. The Demons' offensive struggles allowed Texas Tech to close the game on an 11-2 run.
"We were getting stops," Cabrera said. "At the under-4 minute media timeout, it was a 12-point game, and we were going to the line to cut it to 10. We missed the two free throws, but we never quit. The game could have got out of had, but we kept battling and the guys stayed with the process. We've got a great group of guys who like each other and like playing together and that kept them in the game."
The Demons hung around in the first half because of their renewed emphasis on rebounding.
After being outrebounded by Dallas Christian in Monday's season opener, the Demons outrebounded the Big 12 member Red Raiders in the first half. For the game, Northwestern grabbed 14 offensive rebounds and turned them into 15 second-chance points.
The Demons, however, lost the points in the paint battle, 42-16, with Texas Tech's JT Toppin (game-high 25 points) doing much of his damage inside.
Led by Toppin, the Red Raiders shot 51 percent from the field while the Demons managed to hit 37 percent of their 59 field goals.
Sanders led the Demons in scoring for the second time in as many games, finishing with 18 points that included an 8-for-8 performance from the free-throw line. Despite Sanders' aim, Northwestern shot just 13 for 22 at the line, a 59-percent success rate.
"Thirteen of 22 on the road is unacceptable," Cabrera said. "Making a free throw doesn't have anything to do with who you're playing whether it's Texas Tech or Dallas Christian. We lost the game at the line and in transition defense. I told the guys our transition defense was terrible. It will get fixed by Monday. We'll get better."
The Demons remain on the road, returning to action Monday at Oklahoma. Tipoff is set for 7 p.m. at the Lloyd Noble Center.
