MVC basketball: Vikings fall to D-I team

NATCHITOCHES, La. -- Off the court, Missouri Valley College graduate and former assistant men's basketball coach Jeff Moore surely wanted to be a good host to his alma mater.

On the court, Moore's Northwestern State squad had no such inclination, defeating the visiting Vikings, 77-68, in a non-conference tilt Saturday at Natchitoches, La.

After five years as head coach at John Wood (Ill.) College, Moore is in his fourth season on the staff of veteran Mike McConathy -- one of only two Louisiana coaches to rack up over 500 wins. However, it wasn't McConathy the elder who sank the Vikings.

Instead, his son, 5-foot-9 senior guard Mike McConathy, gave Valley fits by going five for five from three-point range during the first half to send the Demons into the break with a 39-31 lead.

Northwestern State, an NCAA Division I program, led all the way after McConathy's bomb 26 seconds into the contest. The Demons were up by nine points after four minutes, but weren't able to shake MVC.

Senior Patrick McDermott connected from outside to trim the Vikings' deficit to four points with 9:39 left in the first half, but Northwestern State got a pair of jumpers from junior Dominic Knight to begin a 10-1 run.

Valley answered with an 11-2 surge behind senior Bryant Porter's trey and a pair of lay-ups each by senior Roc Rogers and junior Toray Henry.

Senior Aramie Brooks converted a conventional three-point plays and McConathy drained two perimeter shots to push the margin back up to 11 points before Porter struck from downtown at the horn.

McConathy didn't make another shot the rest of the game, but he didn't need to. Senior Damon Jones took over during the second half, scoring 12 of his team-high 16 points. The Demons got their cushion up to 21 points midway through the period and didn't let Valley back into contention.

Knight had 15 points and sophomore William Mosley contributed 10 points, eight rebounds, four blocks and three steals to the win for Northwestern State (5-5).

Porter led all scorers with 18 points, also dishing out four assists and coming up with four steals, and Henry added 15 points for the Vikings (8-5) -- who have dropped four of their last five games.

Valley will be at home Jan. 4 for a non-conference clash with Harris-Stowe State.