NORFOLK – The Northeast Community College men’s basketball fell to #15^th Southeastern (IA) Community College here Saturday, 67-66.

Southeastern came out of the gates early, scoring the first five points of the game, which turned out to be its largest lead in the contest. The Hawks steadily came back and took a 13 point lead with 3:04 seconds left in the first half. Northeast led at intermission, 37-27.

In a second half that saw Northeast shoot only 31 percent from the field and convert nine field goals, the Blackhawks tied the ball game and eventually took the lead with two minutes to play.  With 13 seconds remaining and the Hawks down by two points, Chima Moneke made one of two free throws to put the score at 67-66. After a quick foul, Southeastern missed the front end of a one-and-one with 9.2 seconds to go. Northeast’s Buay Tuach then rebounded the missed shot and passed the ball up court to LJ Westbrook, who was unable to connect the game winning basket as time expired.

“We had our opportunities to win the ball game. A free throw here or a missed layup there really would have helped us,” said Dan Anderson, Northeast coach. “Our effort was there and we competed well enough to win, but we just came up short.”

Jalen Bradley led the Hawks in scoring with 16 points on 6-19 shooting. Moneke recorded a double-double with 15 points and 19 rebounds. Kevin Metoyer was also in double figures tallying 13 points. Westbrook had a team high four assists. The Hawks shot a season low 32 percent from the field with the loss.

Northeast (16-4, 1-1 in the conference) will continue conference play as its takes take on Marshalltown Community College on Wednesday in the Cox Activities Center on the Norfolk campus. Tip-off is set for 7 p.m.