TAHLEQUAH DAILY PRESS — Feeling under the weather couldn’t keep Jason Jones down Saturday afternoon.

Instead, the RiverHawks forward made Southwestern Oklahoma State sick by draining a clutch 3-pointer with 30 seconds left, which propelled NSU to a 70-66 Lone Star Conference win at in front of 800 fans at Jack Dobbins Field House. The 3-point basket – which was Jones’ only made field goal of the game – ended up ranking pretty high on Jones’ list of shots he’s made during his career.

“This is pretty high,” said Jones, who finished with seven points and five rebounds. “We had to have that game, so it ranks pretty high.”

While Jones saved his team late, Dominique Gaines carried most of the workload throughout most of the contest. NSU’s junior guard scored a game-high 22 points and pulled down eight rebounds as the RiverHawks improved to 2-0 in conference play and 11-5 overall.

And it was Gaines who was yelling, “go home,” to the Bulldogs after time had elapsed in the tightly contested North Division game.

“Dominique’s been very good, and it’s obvious he is getting better and better,” NSU coach Larry Gipson said talking about Gaines, who was 6-of-14 from the floor and 10-of-15 from the free-throw line. “He plays to win.”

Antoine Branch joined Gaines in double figures with 15 points while Marlon Burnett scored 14 on 6-of-10 shooting from the field.

The RiverHawks managed to let two sizable leads elude them during the game. NSU took a 10-point lead (26-16) in the first half before the Bulldogs (6-11, 0-2) trimmed the deficit to two (32-30) at intermission.

The second comeback by the Bulldogs proved to be the bigger rally, as SWOSU came from 12 down (44-32) early in the second half to knot the game up a 57-57 with 6:36 remaining.

The Bulldogs even took their first lead (61-59) with 3:55 left on Damian Henderson’s rebound and putback.

From there, the game featured three ties and three lead changes until Jones buried the final go-ahead shot of the contest.

“I knew coming into this game, it would be a slugfest,” said Gipson, who recorded his 222nd victory at NSU and now only trails Ken Hayes by two wins for second on the all-time list of winningest coaches at Northeastern State.

NSU recorded its fifth win in a row thanks to Southwestern’s inability to make free throws. The RiverHawks, who made 20-of-30 foul shots, out shot SWOSU at the line courtesy of the Bulldogs’ 6-of-14 effort at the line.

“Our goal every game is to make more free throws then the other team attempts,” said Gipson, whose team is averaging 71 percent at the charity stripe this season.

For the Bulldogs, Henderson led the charge with a double-double, 17 points on 7-of-15 shooting and 11 rebounds. Zack Howe, who helped SWOSU out score NSU in bench points (22-10), came off the pine to score 15 points – all on 5-of-6 shooting from behind the 3-point line. And Curtis Nickson, a 6-9, 275-pounder, who originally signed with Alabama-Birmingham out of high school, was the final Bulldog member in double figures with 11 points.

But it was Jones and company who prevailed at home.

“A win is a win,” Jones said.

NSU 71, SWOSU 54 (women)

Kendra Dean scored a season-high 16 points and Cristy Nitz chipped in 16 of her own as Northeastern State won 71-54 in a mostly one-sided affair against Southwestern Oklahoma State Saturday afternoon.

After a sloppy first half that had both teams with more turnovers than assists, the RiverHawks protected the ball and coasted to their second straight Lone Star Conference victory.

"We talked about how most of our turnovers in the first half were careless," said NSU coach Randy Gipson, whose team improved to 2-0 in league play and 13-4 overall. "... We talked about that and our kids understood, and we did a lot better job of taking care of the ball."

The Riverhawks, who built up a comfortable 18-point lead in the first half, shot 47 percent (27-of-57) from the field and 72 percent (13-of-18) from the free-throw line. The Bulldogs, however, were limited on the offensive end and only made 16 of 49 field goals.

SWOSU was able to trim the RiverHawks' lead to 36-28 early in the second half, but NSU used a 15-3 run and some stiff defense to bury the lowly Bulldogs (1-14, 1-1).

“I think, overall, our defense was pretty good,” Gipson said. “We set out to guard their dribble penetration going in, and I thought we did a good job of that.”

Behind the triple-headed monster of Dean, Nitz and Jasmine Webb, who also scored in double figures with 10, NSU outscored the under-sized Bulldogs, 36-14, in the paint.

“Our team is playing really hard together,” said Nitz, who was 6-of-12 from the field against SWOSU. “It feels good and everybody is meshing well.”

Leading the way for SWOSU with 11 points each was Holly Jennings and Jenna Sprague.



Northeastern 71, SWOSU 54 (women)

SWOSU 20 34 – 54

NSU 31 40 – 71

SWOSU (1-14, 1-1): Jenna Sprague 11, Holly Jennings 11, Courtney Harper 6, Rush 5, M. Oyler 4, S. Olyer 4, Dillon 3, Brown 3.

NSU (13-4, 2-0): Kendra Dean 16, Cristy Nitz 16, Jasmine Webb 10, Megan Fraley 5, Sarah Green 5, Alix Perkins 4, Jessica White 4, Jasmine Wright 4, Sarah Millar 4, Tosha Tyler 3.



Northeastern 70, SWOSU 66 (men)

SWOSU 30 36 – 66

NSU 32 38 – 70

SWOSU (6-11, 0-2): Damian Henderson 17, Zack Howe 15, Curtis Nickson 11, Charleston Flemmings 9, Moore 7, Pace 4, Jones 3.

NSU (11-5, 2-0): Dominique Gaines 22, Antoine Branch 15, Marlon Burnett 14, Jason Jones 7, J.C. Snead 6, Brent Grice 4, Jesse Scroggins 2.