March 7, 2006
Contact: Kyle Stephens (210) 458-4551
Northwestern State ends UTSA's season, 75-61
Box Score
NATCHITOCHES - Senior Andre Owens turned in his fifth double-double of the season, but Clifton recorded one of his own to lead the top seed Northwestern State Demons to a 75-61 victory over UTSA in the first round of the O'Reilly Auto Parts/Southland Conference Tournament held Tuesday night at Prather Coliseum.
Owens scored 13 points and added 10 rebounds for his fifth double-double of the year in his final game as a Roadrunner, while freshman Aldric Reynolds poured in 14 points and seven boards. Freshman Eric Young, playing in his first game since Feb. 16 because of an ankle injury, added 10 points for UTSA (11-17).
Lee posted 13 points and 11 rebounds to lead the Demons (23-7) into the semifinal round of the conference tournament. Tyronn Mitchell led all players with 14 points, while Byron Allen (13), Jermaine Wallace (11) and Kerwin Forges (10) also reached double figures.
"I was very proud of our effort tonight against a very good basketball team," head coach Tim Carter said. "We made a run at them but they withstood like a veteran team does. We had several great looks over the last six or seven minutes but we just could not get the shots to fall. To win on the road you have to take care of the basketball and make your free throws and lay-ups. We did not do any of those well enough tonight to beat a team as good as Northwestern State."
Northwestern State controlled a sub-par first half by both teams, building a 22-14 lead and answering an 8-0 UTSA run with one of its own en route to a 30-24 halftime advantage.
Trailing 38-29, with 17:37 to play, UTSA used a 12-5 run to pull within 43-41 on a Kurt Attaway free throw with 12:58 left. The Roadrunner hung around and eventually pulled to within 52-51 on a Chris Thompson free throw at the 8:55 mark.
The Demons answered by scoring the next five points and pushed the lead back to double digits at 64-54 on a pair of Allen freebies. Attaway drained a trey from the left wing to cut it to seven with 4:08 left, but Northwestern State used a 7-0 run to pull away and hold on for the 75-61 victory