Box Score TONKAWA — Tenacious defense allowed the Northeastern A&M Golden Norsemen to hold the Northern Oklahoma College-Tonkawa Mavericks to a season low 48 points Thursday during a 69-48 victory in the Foster-Piper Field House.


While snapping a two-game losing streak, coach Dustin Grover's Golden Norse are 1-0 in the Oklahoma Collegiate Athletic Conference and 6-3 overall. The loss dropped the Mavericks to 0-1 in the conference and 5-3 on the season.
NEO returns home briefly on Monday for a 7:30 p.m. OCAC matchup with the Aggies of Murray State College. The Golden Norse travel to Fort Scott, Kan., next Tuesday, for a 7 p.m. rematch with the Fort Scott Greyhounds before continuing on to Marshall, Mo., Wednesday, for a 5:30 p.m. game with the Missouri Valley junior varsity.
Behind eight points each by Christian Leach, Derrick Frye and Igor Ibaka along with four points each by Ja'mill Powell, Terrence Clemens and Jake Roach, the Golden Norse created a 37-19 cushion after the first 20 minutes against NOC-Tonkawa.
Leach led all scorers with 16 points while Frye contributed 15 and Ibaka tallied 11 points with nine rebounds.
NEO connected on 26 of 48 for 54 percent from the field while the Mavericks were held to only 19 of 61 for 31 percent.
Veteran guard Cortrael Colbert scored 13 points to pace the Mavs while Simeon Dennis contributed 12 points.
NEO held a 48 to 27 advantage on the boards.