Box Score Buried by a 29-point run in the first half, Northeastern A&M's Golden Norsemen suffered a 76-60 loss Monday night to Northern Oklahoma College-Tonkawa in the Oklahoma Collegiate Athletic Conference opener for both teams in the NEO Fieldhouse.


Prior to the Thanksgiving holiday, the Golden Norse travel to Clarksville, Ark., Wednesday, for a 1 p.m. contest with the University of the Ozarks junior varsity. NEO is currently 4-5 on the season.
Coach Brett Weiberg's NOC-Tonkawa Mavericks are a perfect 8-0 on the year.
NEO's only lead of the entire game occurred after Jeff Newberry scored on a layup in the first minute of the opening half.
Six points by Phillip Leonard and five by Cortez Colbert along with field goals by Cortreal Colbert, Colin Voss and TJ Thornton enabled the Mavericks to build a 17-9 cushion with 14:15 left until halftime.
The Mavs unleashed a 19-0 explosion to create a 36-9 cushion with 8:27 before intermission. Four points each by Thornton, Voss and Cortez Colbert along with baskets by Dareon Jones, CJ Rodriguez and JJ Nganga fueled the Mavericks outburst.
Freshman guard Darron Claxton came off the bench and scored four points along with field goals by Newberry, Jake Roach and Derrick Frye to produce a 43-19 deficit for the Golden Norse with 3:43 until half.
Field goals by Nkosi Ali and Newberry along with a free throw by Gerardo Isla closed out NEO's scoring in the first 20 minutes as the Norsemen trailed by a 49-24 margin.
During the first 10 minutes of the second half, the Norsemen continued to trail by a 21-point margin at 64-43 as every shot the Mavericks put up seemed to go in while NEO missed close in shot after close in shot.
A 3-point field goal by both Roach and Ja'mill Powell along with two free throws by Newberry and a putback by Isla sliced the deficit to 72-56 with 3:25 remaining in the game.
Powell sank a 3-pointer and a free throw in the final three minutes to close out NEO's scoring.
Ali and Roach were the only Norsemen to reach double figures with 11 points each.
NEO connected on only 21 of 64, including 7 of 21 from 3-point range, for 33 percent from the field and 12 of 20 for 60 percent at the free throw line.
Cortez Colbert paced the Mavs with 14 total points while Leonard added 13, Thornton 12 and Voss 10.
The Mavs sank 32 of 51, including 2 of 12 3-pointers, for 63 percent from the field and 11 of 20 for 55 percent at the free throw line.
Voss grabbed 10 rebounds as the Mavericks held a slim 37-35 edge on the boards. Ali led the Norse with 11 rebounds.