March 1, 2006

Box Score

SAN MARCOS - Clifton Lee scored 17 points, including Northwestern State's last seven, as the Demons defeated Texas State 76-71 Wednesday in Strahan Coliseum.

Northwestern State won its 11th straight Southland Conference game and improved to 21-7 overall and 14-1 in SLC play. Texas State dropped to 3-23 and 1-14 heading into its final game of the year Friday at Nicholls State.

The Bobcats had cut a late Northwestern State lead to one, 70-69 with 2:48 to play, on a Charles Dotson tip-in and had a chance to take the lead after a Demon miss at the other end. Chris Langhorne would miss a layup and Trevor Cook also had a follow shot rim out.

The `Cats would gain possession again after another missed field goal by NSU but this time Brandon Bush had the ball stolen by Keenan Jones. Jones went in for a layup but Bush recovered to block the shot. Lee's jumper off the in-bounds would give Northwestern State a 72-69 lead but the Bobcats would answer with a Langhorne layin.

Lee was fouled driving baseline for a bucket and the lead was again three. The Demon senior would go to the line and miss the free throw but Colby Bergeman came down with the offensive board. Lee would follow his own miss for a tip-in and NSU's lead was 76-71.

The Bobcats led the 2006 SLC regular-season champs by as many as 10 points in the first half and were up 37-34 at the break. Northwestern State would use an 8-2 run in the second half to take a 48-45 lead on a Tyronn Mitchell jumper with 12:58 to play.

Texas State would come back to score six unanswered points at one point to take a 56-54 lead on a Langhorne dunk at the 8:00 mark. The physical game reached a point with 7:20 to play when both teams had players ejected for flagrant fouls. Texas State's Jushay Rockett and Northwestern State's Jermaine Wallace were both ejected from the game.

The flagrant fouls came during a deadball period after Texas State's Dylan Moseley was called for a personal foul. The Demons made four straight free throws - two for the flagrant call and two for the personal foul before Lance Burroughs came off the bench to make two free throws for the Bobcats. Charles Dotson then scored a layin off a pass from Mosley and Texas State's lead was 60-58 with 6:56 to play.

The Bobcats would extend the margin to as many as six points as Bush scored on a layin and later hit a three-pointer to make the score 65-59 with 5:41 to play. But Northwestern State would go on an 11-2 run to set up Lee's late-game heroics.

Mitchell and Alfonse Dyer each added 13 points for Northwestern State. Bush led the Bobcats with 16 points to go along with seven rebounds, four assists and three steals. Dotson finished with 14 points.