NATCHITOCHES - Northwestern State got 21 points from junior guard Devon Baker, who drained six 3-pointers, and the Demons quickly took command in each half Tuesday night on the way to whipping short-handed Houston Baptist 92-61 in college basketball.
Northwestern sank 13 of 28 of its 3-point tries, including 9 of 15 after halftime, while improving to 2-1 heading into a Saturday afternoon visit to Indiana. The Demons got scoring from 13 of the 14 players in action as they shot 51 percent (34-67) as a team, overcoming 46 percent (11-24) on free throws.
Will Pratt and Damon Jones added 11 points each for NSU, while Dominic Knight chipped in 10 to go with 4 assists and 3 steals. Pratt and Michael McConathy also contributed 3 steals for the Demons.
| |
 |
| |
Devon Baker draining 1 of his 6 3s |
The Huskies (0-5) shot just 31 percent from the field. Miles Dixon was the only double-figure scorer for HBU with 11 points. The visitors played without their top two scorers for the season, with leading scorer and rebounder Matt Flaherty out due to a family illness and second-leading scorer Andrew Gonzales apparently sick and unable to play.
After Houston Baptist scored the game's first five points, Northwestern notched 23 of the next 25 over a seven-minute span to lead 23-7. HBU closed within 43-31 at halftime, but the Demons began the second half on a 14-2 run in just two minutes to blow the game open, 57-33.
Northwestern got a pair of 3-pointers by McConathy in the run and the Huskies never got closer than 16 afterward.
The Demons ran off 14 unanswered points over a four-minute stretch near the end of the game to push the margin to 33 at 87-54 with a minute to go and led by 34 in the final seconds.
Baker sank 6 of 10 from behind the 3-point arc, marking the first time since 2000 that a Demon drained six 3-pointers in a game. Alann Polk did so while scoring 25 at Texas State that season, the first for 11th-year NSU coach Mike McConathy.