Alva, Okla.- Northwestern Oklahoma State Men's Basketball hosted their home opener Monday evening with a non-conference game against Kansas Christian College. The Rangers used a dominating first half from a 26 points lead after hitting eight first-half threes. The Red-and-Black would go on to win the game by 27 points 99-72 Monday evening behind a spread-out offensive attack.
The Rangers' offense was led by Jason Douglas-Stanley, finishing with a team-high 15 points as one of seven players in double figures. Bubba Furlong finished with 14 points on seven of nine shooting, followed by Anthony Jones with 13 points, Larry White with 12, Malik Parsons with 11 and Brian Free, and Ravel Moody with ten each in Monday's win. White and Furlong had game-highs of 13 rebounds each, followed by Free and Smith with four each to lead the rebounding for Northwestern. Furlong led the Rangers in assists with five, followed by Free with three.
"I am really proud of this group of players, they continue to progress as a team as we continue to learn and get to know each other. We have many players that could be starting on this team, players on the bench continue to step up and earn minutes off the bench that step up earning minutes. There were spurts throughout the game we were really moving the ball offensively as we turn that into consistent shots" head coach Vinay Patel on 105.7 KRDR radio after the Rangers win.
Kansas Christian scored the first points of the game before the Rangers offense would answer back and trade points early in the opening half. A Parsons three-pointer would tie the game at 5-5. With Northwestern trailing 7-5, the Rangers would make a quick push forcing two turnovers to start a 9-0 run to take a 14-5 lead, as Furlong would get the scoring started on the run. Douglas-Stanley would bury his first three of the game to push the Rangers to the nine-point lead. A Moody layup pushed the Rangers to their first double-digit lead of the game at 21-10 halfway through the opening half. Northwestern's defense continued to push pressure onto the Falcons, forcing three more turnovers to that point in the half. Northwestern's offense continued to shoot well in the opening half as an Anthony Jones layup pushed the Rangers lead to 46-25 for their first 20 point lead of the night. A Jones three in the final seconds of the half would push the Rangers lead to the largest of the half at 58-22 for a 26 point halftime lead.
The Red-and-Black forced ten first-half turnovers while shooting 58.5 percent from the field to help gain the halftime advantage. The Rangers would continue to dominate in the second half, forcing another ten turnovers in the second half and outsourcing the Falcons by one.
Parsons would score the opening basket of the second half on a layup assisted by Free. The Rangers opened the second half on a 6-0 run to open their first 30 point lead of the game after a Parsons foul shot forcing an early second-half timeout from the Falcons. Northwestern would push their largest lead by 36 points at 73-37 following a Bubba Furlong layup capping a 15-5 run, with Douglas- Stanley scoring five of those points. This was followed by the Falcons' best run of the game after Jahreese Jordan, and Christian Pineda sparked a 21-6 run, each scoring six points on the run to bring the Rangers to lead down to 79-58 just under the halfway point of the second half. The teams would begin to battle once again from their trading basket for basket the next three minutes of the half, with the Rangers holding the 21 point lead following two Free foul shots to make the game 86-65 with five minutes to play. Those foul shots would spark the last Ranger run, pushing the score to 99-69 getting it back to 30 before a Falcon buzzer-beater gave us the games' final score, 99-72.
The Northwestern victory improves the team's record to 2-1 on the season, with a 1-0 home record. The Rangers will be back in action on Saturday, November 20th, against Manhattan Christian with a 4:00 PM tip-off.
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