ALVA, Okla. – It has been proven time and time again that in collegiate athletics, records mean almost nothing when two teams step on the court.

That was the case on Monday in front of a near-capacity crowd inside Percefull Fieldhouse where two teams that on paper aren't shown to be among the conference's best, played like two teams vying for a spot among the conference's elite. Head coach Shawn Dirden's men's basketball team came out of the arch-rivalry game against Southwestern Oklahoma State with their second win in five days and will look to continue that momentum into this weekend's contests against in-state rivals Oklahoma Baptist and East Central.

"You have to experience the game first hand to know what it's about no matter what people tell you," Coach Dirden said, "You end up respecting the game and the opponents, and just the history that's there."

The 86-75 victory moved the Rangers record to 6-8 (2-7 in GAC) and improved their home record to 4-2. Northwestern currently sits two games behind the magic eighth-place number that will qualify them for the Great American Conference post-season tournament. Northwestern will face two more opponents this weekend for the first time and will then begin the "rematch" portion of the conference schedule.

Statistically speaking, the Rangers have proved over the first half of the conference schedule to be a fairly balanced team. Northwestern ranks seventh in the conference averaging 74.8 points a game and ninth in the league giving up 75.4 points a contest. Senior Adrian Motley has moved into second place in the conference averaging 20.4 points per contest and now sits seventh on the school's all-time points list.

Despite the improvement statistically and the two recent victories, coach Dirden knows that no one is to be taken lightly in the competitive GAC and these next few games will be critical as far as positioning in the conference standings goes.

"The GAC is a very good league, maybe even underappreciated outside of the region," Coach Dirden said, "All of these games are good games and you have to respect everyone and prepare."

The competitiveness of the league was highlighted last year when this Thursday evening's opponent Oklahoma Baptist, who finished in last place in the conference standings a year ago, came into Percefull Fieldhouse just days after Northwestern's huge victory over Southwestern and escaped with an 87-82 win over the play-off minded Rangers. Coach Dirden made note that he is aware of what happened last season and has made it a point to refocus his team on the task at hand on Thursday night.  

The Bison (4-9, 1-8 GAC) are led by junior Chandler Rickey, a player that coach Dirden is familiar with and was very high on during his previous coaching stint. Rickey is averaging 15.3 points a game and 5.8 rebounds, placing him in the top 20 in the conference in both categories. The Bison will also feature senior Steven Green, who ranks fourth in the conference in rebounding with 8.0 boards a contest. Both big-men underneath feed off of the direction and poise of Slovakian point guard Vladimir Nemcok, who has battled injuries throughout this season, but posted point totals of 16 and 13 in their previous two contests against East Central and Southern Nazarene. Nemcok posted 20 points and eight assists in last year's upset over the Rangers.

Northwestern will then travel to Ada on Saturday afternoon to take on stand-out Braxton Reeves and the second-place East Central Tigers (11-4, 7-2 GAC). Reeves, a First-Team All-Conference selection a year ago who recently moved into the top spot on the GAC's all-time leading scorers list, has scored 40-plus points twice this season and currently leads the league averaging 21.4 points a game. The Tigers have won their last 11 games after being defeated in the first two conference games. East Central split the regular-season GAC Title last season with Harding before being ousted in the post-season tournament by Ouachita Baptist.

Northwestern will embrace the two opportunities to improve their conference positioning this weekend after an energizing win over Southwestern. Play inside Percefull Fieldhouse on Thursday night is set for a 7:30 p.m. tip-off, and then again in Ada on Saturday afternoon at 3 p.m.
 
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