Box Score SAN FRANCISCO, California – A big first-half surge from a hot-shooting San Francisco team proved too much for the Northwestern State men's basketball team to overcome Tuesday night, as the Demons fell 84–64 at War Memorial Gym.

"We didn't play well," head coach Rick Cabrera said. "We gotta do some soul searching on the defensive end. San Francisco is a very good team, an NCAA tournament caliber team. But we have to be better on the defensive end, and until then, we're not going to win basketball games."

Northwestern State (1-4) traded baskets with the Dons early, grabbing a brief 10-9 lead on a transition 3 from Omar Adegbola after a jumper in the paint from Kordrick Turner and a right-wing 3 by Izzy Miles helped the Demons settle in offensively.

From there, San Francisco (4-1) caught fire from the perimeter and at the rim, using a series of 3s and transition finishes to flip the game's momentum.

The Dons finished the night shooting 53 percent from the floor and 43 percent from deep, hitting 12 3-pointers and consistently converting at the foul line at a 71 percent clip.

Mookie Cook and Legend Smiley fueled the Dons' perimeter attack, while Tyone Riley IV and David Fuchs attacked the lane and the foul line to steadily stretch the margin.

The Dons put together a decisive extended run midway through the first half, turning a one-point deficit into a double-digit lead.

Multiple trips to the free-throw line, a handful of fastbreak dunks and timely 3s pushed the advantage to as many as 21 before the break.

Despite late first-half scoring from Landyn Jumawan and Micah Thomas, the Demons went into halftime trailing 50–31.

Cabrera pointed to communication issues as a root cause of the defensive struggles.

"We don't communicate on the defensive end," Cabrera said. "It leads to lapses and open layups and dunks for the other team. We've struggled talking all season, and that's something we've got to fix. If we don't fix it, we're not going to win many games.

"I need guys like Michael (Thomas) to step up and be more of a leader, and Willie's (Williams) a leader, but he's not really out there, so he can't do much. I need guys that were in our program last year to be more of our leaders on the defensive end, and they hadn't been. I'm very disappointed with that."

The Demons responded with better execution and energy after the break.

Justin Redmond opened the second half scoring for the Demons with a 3, later adding another from deep and a driving layup as NSU tried to chip away at the deficit.

NSU's bench contributed 32 points overall, while J.C. Riley Jr. provided a spark with two strong finishes at the rim, including a dunk, and Adegbola continued to score inside and at the line.

Thomas found his rhythm in the midrange and at the stripe, piecing together a steady second half that helped stabilize the offense.

Jumawan added a 3 from the left side and converted multiple free throws down the stretch as the Demons continued to battle, but every Northwestern State push was met with an answer from the Dons.

Smiley and Cook connected on more perimeter shots, Fuchs knocked down another 3 and free throws, and center Saba Gigiberia scored on rolls to the basket and second-chance opportunities to keep San Francisco comfortably in front.

Northwestern State was led by Jumawan's season-high 13 points, while Redmond added 11 to round out the Demons' top scorers.

"Yeah, we need this from Landyn (Jumawan)," Cabrera said. "I just need to make sure he has the confidence in himself. He needed a game like this, and that's why I took him out of the starting lineup, just to kind of give him a reset. He got his reset and he played with a lot of confidence and swag."

Next up, the Demons travel to Grand Canyon to continue their multi-team event, tipping off against the Lopes on Friday at 8 p.m. Central.