TAHLEQUAH — On a Halloween night meeting between two teams trending in different directions, NSU opened up a bag with more tricks than treats on Saturday night at Doc Wadley Stadium, losing to West Texas A&M 66-23.

The RiverHawks’ defense allowed six touchdown passes for the second consecutive game — six last week from Southwest Oklahoma quarterback Justin Pitrucha and three each on Saturday from WTAMU’s Taylor Harris and Tanner Marsh.

Harris, the starter, completed 19-of-25 passes for 262 yards in the first half, but did throw two interceptions. Marsh came in at the start of the second half and completed 19-of-24 passes for 202 yards with no INTs.

“We’ve got to do a better job of keeping guys in front of us on defense,” NSU coach Kenny Evans said. “I think every one of our cornerbacks got beat deep tonight.”

NSU got on the board first, taking an early 3-0 lead on a 41-yard field goal by Jared Homer with 12:19 to go in the first quarter. The drive was set up when the RiverHawks’ Taylor Harris picked off Harris and ran the ball back to the Buffs’ 45-yard line.

But from there, it was all WTAMU. The Buffs scored four consecutive touchdowns, including three on the ground by running back Keithonn Flemming, who finished with 13 carries for 110 yards, all of which came in the first half.

Flemming’s second score came on a burst through the NSU defensive line, where he scooted to the outside and scampered in for a 25-yard touchdown. The RiverHawks went nowhere on the ensuing drive — actually, less than nowhere. The first two plays resulted in losses and on the third, NSU quarterback Kenny Davis backpedaled, rolled to his right and threw an off-balance pass that was intercepted by Tae Evans. Evans returned the INT to the NSU 3-yard line before being pushed out of bounds and once again, Flemming stuck it in the end zone, this TD making it 28-3 WTAMU.

Davis finished 11-of-19 for 61 yards through the air with one interception. He was briefly replaced by Woody Wilson, who did not attempt a pass, but ran twice for 14 yards. Jarett Beal, who has played QB in the past for NSU before moving full-time to wide receiver, had one of the few highlights for the RiverHawks, when he took an end around and found Ben Randle wide open for a 29-yard touchdown strike that cut the Buffs’ lead to 28-10 with just over eight minutes remaining in the third quarter. West Texas A&M responded with 25 unanswered points to put the game away.

After the game, Evans mentioned that focus issues plagued the RiverHawks’ ability to prepare for the Buffs.

“We had some things come up this week that took our focus off of the game,” Evans said. “And as coach I have to do a better job of keeping our guys focused on the teams that we have to beat.”

NSU turns its attention to this week’s rivalry meeting at 2 p.m. on Saturday with Central Oklahoma in Edmond.