NATCHITOCHES, Louisiana  — Houston Christian University kicked off the final road trip of the regular season with a 61-56 loss to Northwestern State University on Saturday afternoon at Prather Coliseum. A defensive battle from the very start, the host Demons used a 15-4 spurt over the final five-plus minutes to rally past the Huskies and take both games in the season series.
 
The game got off to a slow start, as neither team was willing to give up much ground defensively. HCU held Northwestern State to just four points over the first six minutes, and a three-pointer from Trent Johnson gave the Huskies an 8-4 lead with 13:42 to play in the first half.
 
Julian Mackey would answer a Demons three from JT Warren with one of his own, keeping the lead at four, 11-7 nearly a minute later. Micah Thomas scored four straight for NSU to cut the lead to 13-11, but Johnson answered again with a layup and a banked home three ball, giving HCU an 18-14 lead with six minutes to go, as the offenses began to find some footing.

A Peyton Rogers slam off a pick-and-roll was followed by four free throws from Elijah Brooks to push the HCU margin to six. Addison Patterson answered each little burst by the Huskies, and his layup with 3:31 to go cut the lead back to two once more, 24-22. HCU then responded by turning back to its defense. The Huskies held the hosts to just two shot attempts and one point the remainder of the half, and a nice right-handed finish by southpaw Bryson Dawkins gave the visitors their largest lead at seven, 30-23 heading into the locker rooms for the break.
 
The second half opened with the two number nines going back-and-forth for a short stretch. Consecutive buckets by Bryson Dawkins gave HCU a six-point lead, but Patterson hit two three-balls, the second of which cut the hosts deficit in half, 34-31. The two teams then went back to the defense, holding each other scoreless for the next two-plus minutes to hit the first media of the second frame.
 
Elijah Brooks hit a free throw and Dawkins followed with two more buckets and the defensive effort by HCU pushed NSU's scoreless stretch to five minutes, forcing another Demons timeout with the Huskies leading 39-31. Out of that break, Brooks would extend the HCU margin to double-digits for the first time on a beautiful blow by and boomtime, and HCU led 41-31 with 11:24 to play. A dunk by Jerald Colonel with 11:04 to go broke a six-minute stretch without a score for the Demons.
 
The two teams would then trade baskets for the next couple of minutes, but another bucket from Dawkins and a pick-and-roll finish by Rogers got the lead back up to eight with 7:36 to play. A dunk by Patterson got NSU back to within five, 49-44, but the Huskies responded with a three from D'Aundre Samuels and a run-out dunk by Dawkins to push the lead back to 10, 54-44 with 4:35 remaining on the Prather scoreboard.
  Northwestern State then made its game-deciding push. A Micah Thomas three-pointer was followed by two more baskets by Patterson, cutting the deficit to three. A pair of Patterson free throws then cut the lead to one, 54-53 as the clock dipped under the two-minute mark.
 
Jon Sanders then canned a three-pointer with 1:30 to go, giving NSU its first lead of the afternoon, 56-54 with a buck and a half left. A moment later he would hit a free throw to push the lead to three, 57-54 with 31 ticks remaining.
 
Trent Johnson secured an offensive rebound and was fouled. The inbounds play ended up in the hands of D'Aundre Samuels who was fouled in the act of shooting a three. He made two then missed the third forcing the Huskies to foul once more. Sanders hit both free throws to push the lead back to three with 5.1 seconds to go and NSU then called timeout to set up its defense. HCU then tossed the ball to halfcourt and quickly called timeout but their final play went awry, allowing the Demons to hold on.  
 
For the second time in two meetings this year, it was Northwestern State who managed to make the final defensive stand. A 17-4 push over the final 5:29 of this contest ultimately turned out to be the difference.
 
The Huskies hit at a 38% clip from the field including 24% from the arc, while Northwestern used a 57% second half to up their final shooting number to just over 43% for the day. The Huskies led for 38 and a half minutes before the Demons took the lead for good.
 
Bryson Dawkins led the way for HCU with 18 points while D'Aundre Samuels chipped in 11. Elijah Brooks had nine points and four assists while Trent Johnson returned to the lineup after a two-game absence, scoring eight points and grabbing a career-best eight boards. Peyton Rogers added seven and seven for the Huskies.
 
Addison Patterson scored a game-high 26 points off the bench for the Demons, who move to 14-15 and 11-8 in conference play. Jon Sanders had 10 points off the bench, none bigger than the go-ahead three. Jerald Colonel snatched a game-high 14 caroms off the backboards for NSU, which remains in a tie with TAMUCC, which defeated Southeastern at home on Saturday afternoon. 
 
Houston Christian University falls to 12-18 overall and 9-10 in conference play. The Huskies are now tied for seventh with Incarnate Word, which won at East Texas A&M on Saturday afternoon for its third straight victory to clinch the eighth and final spot in the postseason tournament.

The Huskies will now travel to Commerce to take on ETAMU on Monday night in the regular season finale. Tip-off from The Fieldhouse is scheduled for 6:30 pm.
 
 
#DawgsUp