COMMERCE, Texas – At the halfway mark of Southland Conference play, one thing has become clear for the Northwestern State men's basketball team.
 
"This is a possession league," second-year head coach Rick Cabrera said.
 
Indeed, several of the Demons' first 10 league games this season have come down to a possession or two. One of those that did not was Northwestern's 75-67 win against East Texas A&M on Jan. 11.
 
The Demons (9-11, 6-4) make the return trip to East Texas at 2:15 p.m. Saturday on ESPN+, looking for their second season sweep of the Lions (2-19, 0-10) in the past three seasons.
 
"I really like what our guys have done," Cabrera said of the first half of conference play. "We're probably two or three possessions from being in second place by ourselves and vice versa. I like where we're at. Obviously, I'd love to be 10-0, but our guys are competing every game and putting themselves in great chances to win. That's all you can ask for. We have to continue to get better and better."

As Northwestern caps its longest Southland Conference road swing of the season – Saturday's game is the third straight away from home for the Demons – it does so in a place that holds the most significance for its head coach.
 
Cabrera's father, Hugo, is a member of the East Texas A&M Hall of Fame while Commerce is located approximately an hour from Dallas where Cabrera's mother and sister currently reside. The East Texas A&M Field House, however, wasn't the scene of a happy family reunion when Cabrera made his first trip there with the Demons.
 
That game turned into a three-overtime thriller where Northwestern came up short.
 
"Last year, when I think it was Tommie Lewis who shot that 3 in the corner (in the final seconds of regulation), I was telling my dad in my head, 'Please don't let that shot go in,'" Cabrera said. "He had to see his alma mater win one. It's always a special place. My sister and mom will be there. I'm extremely excited to go back. Most importantly, it's a business trip, and hopefully we come out victorious."
 
While the Demons came out victorious in the first meeting between the teams, the visiting Lions made things interesting.
 
Northwestern built an 18-point lead in the second half before East Texas sliced the lead to six with 6:17 to play. Consecutive 3-pointers following a 30-second timeout gave the Demons a 12-point lead and kept the Lions from their first Southland Conference win.
 
Saturday will mark the second meeting of the two-game, home-and-home season series between the teams. East Texas will be the first team the Demons face for the second time this season.
 
"They're a team that is never going to quit, regardless of their record," Cabrera said. "We just lost to Lamar, who in the game before East Texas took to overtime. Coach (Jared von Rosenberg) has those guys competing at a high level. We watched film of the last game and we saw a lot of good, but we also allowed them to capitalize on some runs. The game of basketball is a game of runs, but the better team shortens those runs. We didn't do that. We have to learn from that and be road tough and not let that happen again Saturday."