ALVA, Okla. – The Northwestern Oklahoma State University men's basketball team will look to build off of the moment generated by a successful first half run in Great American Conference play.

The Rangers will look to continue to press forward as a contender to take home the conference championship at season's end and will continue to lean on the positives and improve on the negatives after an 8-3 first half record in the conference. Northwestern currently sits in a tie for second place with Southeastern Oklahoma State and will now look to take on a second-half of the conference schedule that will see them compete in seven road games and four home games.

The second-half stretch will get underway this weekend in Arkadelphia, Ark. with games against Ouachita Baptist and Henderson State. The Rangers defeated both teams back on Nov. 16 and 18 in Alva and will look to add two key road wins to their collection of impressive wins.

Northwestern has continued to pressure teams on the defensive side of the ball all season, but has seen an increase in offensive efficiency as of late. With an average of 86 points per game over their last three games, the Rangers now rank in the top five in the league in both field goal percentage (47%) and three-point field goal percentage (41%) and have begun to find their rhythm on the offensive side of the ball.

Senior Cody Halvorson ranks 12^th in the conference with an average of 15.4 points per contest and has made the most amount of three pointers in the league with 55. Halvorson along fellow seniors Brandon Green and Greg Minor Jr. have continued to be outstanding on defense, and with Minor's career-high 20 points in the last game and Green's 19 points in a last second win over Southwestern, the guards for coach Shawn Dirden have proven to be well-rounded all season.

Center Treyvon Andres Jr. and senior Trey Johnson have continually defended the paint for the Black-and-Red, and will have their hands full with a strong inside presence from both Ouachita Baptist and Henderson State this weekend.

Games are set to begin on Thursday at 7:30 p.m. against Ouachita Baptist and 3 p.m. on Saturday against Henderson State. Fans can follow the link to the live stream of the games on riderangersride.com, or can listen live on alvaradio.com.