NATCHITOCHES – When the Northwestern State men's basketball team opened its Southland Conference schedule nearly two months ago, it came out on the wrong end of a matchup with Lamar.
 
As the Demons being their final two-game homestand of the regular season by facing those same Cardinals at 3:30 p.m. Saturday on ESPN+ in Prather Coliseum, the names and numbers are the same for both teams, but the Demons say they are a much different team than the one that walked into the conference opener in Beaumont, Texas, on Jan. 6.
 
"Every aspect of the team has grown, but if I had to say one that sticks out to me is our effort," senior forward Justin Wilson said. "Each and every day, we're giving 100 percent, and that's what you need."
 
When the Demons (9-19, 7-8) first met the Cardinals (15-13, 9-6) this season, Northwestern State had just concluded a 2-11 non-conference slate with a roster that had two players – junior guard Braelon Bush and redshirt sophomore guard Karlin Hardy – who had seen action in a Southland Conference game.
 
Since that conference-opening loss at Lamar, the Demons have gone 7-7 and done something no other NSU team has accomplished in the last decade – win a pair of Southland Conference road games by at least 20 points in the same season.
 
Northwestern State nearly made it three such wins before Houston Christian cut a 35-point second-half margin to 13 in the Demons' 86-73 win a week ago.
 
"All the credit goes to our players," first-year head coach Rick Cabrera said. "They've been through a lot since Day One. Those guys persevered through not winning a Division I game in the first semester. They stayed the course. They stuck with it. A lot of teams would have quit. Those teams that have three or four wins have quit. They've kept at it, and I'm so proud of them. They've enjoyed success and seen what their potential is."
 
The Demons flashed that potential in the first meeting with Lamar, taking an eight-point lead with less than eight minutes to play in the first half before Lamar took the lead for good late in the first half.
 
That game was part of a pattern that Northwestern State has shown flashes of breaking.
 
A week ago, the Demons built a 14-point halftime lead at HCU and extended it to 35 with the game in the balance. NSU held a double-figure lead for the final 25:39 of that victory.
 
"The last time we played them, it was a ballgame," Cabrera said. "We led for about 15 minutes of the first half. They made some good runs and they're a really good team, but we're a different ball club. We're starting to win on the road. We're winning at home."
 
Both teams already have clinched berths in the Southland Conference Tournament, which begins March 10 in Lake Charles.
 
Lamar enters Saturday's game in a tie with Southeastern for fourth place and the final bye in the eight-team event. Northwestern State sits two games back of those teams, mathematically alive for a bye.
 
After playing its lone single-game week of conference play a week ago, the Demons flip the script to finish the season, playing three times in a five-day stretch from Saturday through next Wednesday.
 
"It changes our approach on what we do in practice," Cabrera said of the busy closing stretch. "At this time of year, our practices are shorter and have a lot less physical contact. Last week was the first time since the first semester where we had a Saturday to Saturday, so we were a little out of our routine, but we were able to get some guys some rest.
 
"At this point in the season, you have to win practice mentally and by film study, so you're able to go out prepared to win a game."