ALVA, Okla. - Northwestern Oklahoma State Men's Basketball held on for their first conference victory of the season, defeating the Southern Nazarene Crimson Storm 66-64.

The Rangers return to action after their Arkansas road swing was a successful one as they downed conference rival Southern Nazarene by a final of 66-64 Thursday evening.
Junior guard Cody Halvorson impressed early as he opened the scoring with a fast break three pointer from the corner in the opening minute. With both teams trading buckets in the first eight minutes of the ballgame, the Rangers found themselves with a slim 15-13 lead. Northwestern showed their willingness to show off the long ball, going 3-for-7 early on.

Southern Nazarene retaliated with a 9-2 run to take the lead midway through the first half.

Gaining momentum proved difficult for either team, as statement plays from both sides were quieted immediately when the other answered right back. Locked in a close contest, the Crimson Storm took a 29-27 advantage into halftime.

6'9" senior Austin Klug out of Riverside, Calif. dropped a jumper fresh out of the break for Northwestern to tie it up. Greg Minor Jr. then answered with a heavily contested drive through the lane of his own to regain the Ranger lead. Back-to-back buckets by Adrian Motley and Zachary Dumas electrified the Percefull Fieldhouse faithful, leading to Crimson Storm head coach Adam Bohac calling a timeout.

Tempers flared midway through the second half when red-shirt freshman Hunter Frisby was called for an intentional foul. In an effort to defend the paint, Frisby tried swatting away Quaylon Newton's layup, but instead missed the block and took Newton to the floor. When play resumed, the Crimson Storm rallied to tie it at 41-41.

With Northwestern looking for their first Great American Conference victory, the Rangers looked to their experience to take control down the stretch. Motley turned on the jets, finishing with 21 points. Dumas displayed his quick release when he hit a three over Finnish defender Anton Kankaanpaa to once again ignite the crowd. Dumas went 3-6 from the field and 6-8 from the line for 14 points.

Ahead by just two with 1:15 to play, the Rangers needed to close, something that seemed to have eluded them in their previous few contests. Motley hit a turnaround floater to extend the lead to four with just under a minute left. It looked as though SNU was going to make a push when Kankaanpaa launched a three that just rimmed out, with Brandon Green pulling down the rebound and drawing the foul, hitting both free throws to make it 63-58.

After the Crimson Storm made a quick layup, Northwestern was unable to inbound the ball, resulting in a turnover with 24.6 seconds remaining. Noah Starkey then hit a 15 foot jumper for the Storm to make it just 63-62 for the Rangers. On the ensuing inbounds pass, Adrian Motley was fouled hard with 15.1 seconds left, and hit both his free throws when it mattered.

Despite missing three of their last four free throws, Northwestern would hang on to win 66-64 for their first conference victory of the 2016-2017 campaign. Northwestern Oklahoma State moves to 5-7 (1-6 GAC) while the Crimson Storm fall to 7-6 (4-3 GAC).


Up Next
Weather permitting, the Rangers will travel to Durant, Okla. on Saturday, January 14 for a 3 p.m. tip-off against Southeastern Oklahoma State (5-8, 1-6 GAC) at Bloomer Sullivan Arena.