RJ Nembhard scored 10 of his team's first 14 points and finished with 23 as host TCU remained undefeated with a 74-68 victory over pesky Northwestern State on Thursday night in Fort Worth, Texas.
Nembhard also pulled down eight rebounds and came through with some key second-half buckets to help the Horned Frogs improve to 4-0 for a second consecutive season. PJ Fuller had 13 points and Kevin Samuel added 12 with 15 rebounds for TCU, which trailed by one early in the second half before using a 13-4 spurt and 9-0 run to regain control of the contest.
Trenton Massner scored a team-high 21 for Northwestern State (0-4). The Demons held tough and stuck with the Horned Frogs all night despite shooting 38.5 percent and being outrebounded 44-35.
Nembhard set the pace for TCU, opening the game with an old-fashioned 3-point play. The Horned Frogs used a 9-0 run, capped by Fuller's 3-pointer with roughly eight minutes to play in the first half, to take a 30-19 lead. TCU led 35-23 on another Nembhard basket, but Northwestern State put forth an 8-0 to get within 35-31 and Jairus Roberson's 3-pointer put the visitors down 37-34 with just under 4 minutes to go in the first half. They trailed 40-34 at the break.
The Demons used a 9-2 run to open the second half and took a 43-42 lead on CJ Jones' layup with 17:37 left in the game. TCU, though, regrouped and took the lead back, beginning with a Nembhard basket. Five points from Fuller helped push the Horned Frogs lead to 55-47 with 13 minutes to play.
Northwestern State, though, still would not go away and scored six straight points to get within 55-53. However, Nembhard and Chuck O'Bannon combined to score the game's next nine points as the hosts pushed their advantage to 64-53, then kept the Demons' at arms' length.
--Field Level Media
