MURRAY, Kentucky – For much of Saturday night's matchup with Murray State, the Northwestern State men's basketball team was a free-flowing, efficient offense.
Down the stretch, however, the Racers were able to interrupt that flow and pulled away for a 93-71 victory inside the CFSB Center in the first matchup between the teams in program history.
"I'm really proud of our guys," fourth-year head coach
Rick Cabrera said. "We put ourselves in position to win the game. I've got to give credit to Murray for sticking with the game plan, making big shots and getting stops. Our defense was really good for a strong period of time, especially our switching defense. They are an NCAA Tournament-type team. I think we've had the toughest week of Division I teams with who we've played in seven games.
"To finish it with a lot of promise is something we can learn from."
Through the first 30-plus minutes of the game, the Demons (0-3) and Racers (2-0) were locked in a see-saw battle with no team building more than an eight-point edge.
The first half of the final 20 minutes saw the Demons erase an eight-point deficit to take a pair of leads, including a 62-60 edge with 11:10 to play after
Kai Simpson completed a three-point play.
In returning to his home state, Simpson led Northwestern State with 24 points as one of three Demons to reach double figures.
"He was a stud for us, and he's been a stud for us since he got here," Cabrera said. "He didn't play well against Mississippi State, and we had a tough film session. I got on him pretty good, but I also let him know he has to be who he is. Guys like him are going to have to make tough shots, because they're going to be scouted hard."
That would be the final lead of the night for Northwestern, which was playing without three rotation players because of injury.
The Demons carried over a strong first-half offensive performance in which they shot 55.6 percent from the field (15-for-27) into the second half.
When Simpson took the game into the under-12-minute media timeout with a layup, Northwestern was shooting 59.5 percent from the field. Following the timeout, the Demons finished the game 1-for-10 from the field.
"Our main dudes were playing heavy minutes, and it turned into some tough shots and missed defensive assignments," Cabrera said.
Despite that, Northwestern sank a season-best 50 percent of its shot and was 7-for-12 from 3-point range.
Defensively, the Demons locked down on the Racers' 6-foot-9 forward Roman Domon, who led Murray State with 22 points in its season-opening win against Tennessee State.
While Northwestern frustrated Domon into a 4-for-16 night from the field – including misses on all eight of his 3-point attempts – Brayden Shorter more than picked up the slack.
Shorter delivered 20 of his game-high 29 points in the second half, leading a long-range barrage from the Racers, who were playing their first game in the renovated CFSB Center.
Shorter hit five of six second-half 3-pointers as Murray State buried 14 of its 32 3-point attempts as a team after Baylor and Mississippi State had combined to hit 17 in the Demons' first two games.
Joining Simpson in the Demons' double-figure scoring group were
Nathan Ojukwu (15 points, team-high six assists) and freshman
Antoine Almuttar (10 points).
Almuttar's twin brother, Armon, hit the first 3-pointer of his collegiate career in the first half, giving the Demons an early 8-6 lead as part of an 8-3 run that led to NSU's largest lead of the game.
"Those two guys," Cabrera said of the Almuttars, "I tell the staff, 'I just love coaching them.' They feel like they've been playing college basketball for two or three years. They compete. They don't smile on the court. It's all business. Those are the guys you enjoy coaching."
The Demons return to Natchitoches for their home opener Tuesday against Millsaps. Tipoff is set for 6:30 p.m. on Mike McConathy Court at Prather Coliseum.
