ALVA, Okla.- The Northwestern Oklahoma State men's basketball team will hit the road and head across the state of Oklahoma into Arkansas for two games crucial to the team's hopes of a post-season berth.

After two tough home losses against Harding and Arkansas Tech, many would think that the Rangers confidence level would be severely diminished after being defeated inside their house. However, coach Shawn Dirden said his team is using their quality wins over East Central and Southern Nazarene as motivation that they can compete against the top teams in the Great American Conference.
               
"You could still see in everyone's faces that they believe and we believe in what we're doing," coach Dirden said, "We've competed for a large majority of games, but it comes down to finishing out games. We're going to learn a lot about ourselves about who we are and what we can be in the future."
               
Those tight losses Dirden was referring to have the Rangers two games out of eighth place in the GAC standings. The Rangers are no strangers to battling their way into post-season contention, as Northwestern found themselves in a similar position right in the mix of the ultra-competitive GAC a year ago and picked up a quality win at Arkansas-Monticello and nearly upset Southern Arkansas in the same road trip the Rangers will face this weekend. Coach Dirden expects that the core group of guys in seniors Adrian Motley, Austin Klug, Deiondray Martin and point guard Brandon Green learned a lot last year and will be ready to handle the hostile environment on the road in must-win situations.
               
"I'm counting on those guys… Adrian's won at Monticello before so he can share with the guys on the bus and at practice the focus it takes to take out a top team," coach Dirden said, "Last year as the season went on their spirits didn't break and I think we're dealing with a similar situation this season."
               
Motley and company will look to pick up their third win in a row in as many years at Arkansas-Monticello on Thursday evening. The Weevils are led by the leading scorer in the conference Derylton Hill, who dropped 29 points in the first match-up of the season on Dec. 3. The Weevils took that contest by a final score of 87-81, but never led by more than six points in the entire ball game. Hill is the obvious driving force behind the Weevils holding the top position in the conference standings, but the quality guard play the Weevils have developed is what coach Dirden agrees has made Monticello such a complete team this season.
               
"Hill deserves all the attention and respect but it's their point guard Kareem (Mawuenyega), (Cobe) Goosby, and Tyrin Jones that do a dynamic job of getting to the paint," coach Dirden said, "They're one of the best teams if not the best of taking the ball out of the basket early and running it down your throat which benefits Hill."
               
Northwestern will then travel Saturday to take on Southern Arkansas (8-11, 6-7 in GAC) who the Rangers welcomed to Percefull Fieldhouse way back on Dec. 1 and couldn't overcome the combination of foul trouble and the absence of Motley from the line-up. The Muleriders defeated the Rangers 77-69 thanks in large part to a 58% shooting percentage and double-digit scoring efforts from four different players including explosive guard C.J. Elkins, who currently sits fifth in the conference in scoring with 17.5 points. This time around the Rangers will have Motley back, who maintains his second place in scoring in the conference with 19.6 points a game, and will be keyed in on slowing down Elkins as well as big men Denarious Lockhart and Tony Aska.

"They're one of the few teams in the league that I think we match up with in that they want to play inside-out like we want to do," coach Dirden said, "So from that perspective it's a really good match-up, but I think the tip of the scale going into the game is that they're playing at home."

Northwestern will get these two games started on Thursday evening at 7:30 p.m. at Arkansas Monticello and then again on Saturday at Southern Arkansas at 3:00 p.m.