FLORENCE, Alabama – The Northwestern State men's basketball team battled through 45 minutes of high-intensity basketball Tuesday night, forcing overtime before falling 87-83 to defending ASUN co-champion North Alabama inside CB&S Bank Arena.
Senior guard
Micah Thomas poured in a career-high 29 points, and junior
Izzy Miles added a career-best 16, as the Demons (0-3) rallied from an early 13-point deficit to take the Lions to the brink in a dramatic finish.
"I'm proud of our guys for competing," head coach
Rick Cabrera said. "This was a Southland Conference-level game. From the way we started to how we finished in a one-possession game, we fought back and took the lead at one point. The team that got the last stop -- they made a great defensive play at the end. We'll build off this. It stings to be 0-3, but that doesn't define us. We've got a good ball club."
North Alabama (2-1) opened the game on a 14-1 run before Thomas and the Demons settled in.
Thomas connected on a pair of 3s midway through the first half and converted a three-point play at the buzzer to trim the deficit to 36-33 at halftime.
The Demons grabbed their first lead of the night early in the second half when Thomas buried another 3, setting the tone for a back-and-forth 20 minutes that featured five ties and eight lead changes.
Miles came alive down the stretch, scoring nine points in the final seven minutes of regulation — including a pair of driving layups and a mid-range jumper with 30 seconds left that tied the game at 77 to send it to overtime.
"These are the kind of guys we have," Cabrera said. "I've never doubted our group. We battled and competed. North Alabama was picked to win their league. They brought back 10 guys and four starters, and we had a chance to win it. We'll learn from this and correct the mistakes. I'll take a lot of positives out of this loss."
In the extra period, Northwestern State seized early momentum.
After a defensive stop and steal by
Chris Mubiru, the junior forward raced the floor for a fastbreak dunk to put NSU ahead 79–77.
Mubiru followed the play with a block on the defensive end, but the Lions answered with a second-chance tip-in from Cornelius Williams to even it at 79.
Thomas tied the game again at 81 with a pull-up jumper in the paint, and
Kordrick Turner later scored off a feed from Thomas to make it 83–83 with just over a minute remaining.
The Lions, however, capitalized at the line — Donte Bacchus hit a free throw to give UNA an 84–83 edge with 44 seconds left -- and a pair of late foul shots from Canin Jefferson and Bacchus sealed the 87–83 final.
NSU had a chance in the closing seconds after an offensive rebound by Turner, but a contested layup attempt was blocked in traffic before North Alabama secured the rebound and closed it out at the line.
"Miles has been a veteran presence — I've been waiting for this from him," Cabrera said. "He knows his strengths and played really well tonight. And
CJ Larry has earned his minutes. He's a big guard who defends and lets Micah play off the ball, which helps us a ton. There's a lot of positives to build on."
Mubiru finished with 11 points and a momentum-shifting dunk in overtime, and Turner added seven points and six boards.
Cabrera noted the Demons' rebounding struggles against a physical North Alabama frontcourt.
"We got out-rebounded by two guys by themselves," he said. "That's unacceptable. We've got to get more physical — it doesn't matter who's on the floor. We'll fix it."
The Demons shot 48.2 percent from the field and 82.8 percent from the line while outscoring the Lions in bench points and points off turnovers.
North Alabama's C.J. Williams led the Lions with 28 points, and Donte Bacchus added 16 as the Lions remained unbeaten at home, extending their home-winning streak to 17, dating back to last season.
"This road stretch is going to help us," Cabrera said. "I told the guys this is what Southland play will look like — physical, competitive, down to the wire. It hurts to start 0–3, but we've gotten better each game. Now it's time to fix what we need to fix and get ready to go at home."
Northwestern State now turns its focus to its home opener Friday inside Prather Coliseum, when Ecclesia comes to town. Tipoff is set for 12 p.m. on Mike McConathy Court.
