Alva, Okla- Northwestern Oklahoma State Men's basketball team took advantage of a strong opening first half, taking the lead with 16 minutes left in the first half and would not trail in the game again. Brian Free would hit two late foul shots to give the Rangers a 73-71 victory over the Tigers.
"I thought it was a total team win tonight. We got a little bit
of help from everyone, and our bench stepped up when we
really needed it. We knew the game was going to be very
physical and our guys did a nice job of connecting from the
free throw line when we got there" stated head coach
Vinay Patel on the win.
The Rangers improved to 5-2 on the season with a 1-1 Great American Conference record following the win
"Winning on the road in the GAC is always tough, and I'm proud of our guys for banding together after a tough loss at
home Thursday. We really preached moving the ball and getting more people involved tonight, and I think you can see
that by how many people scored for us tonight. We will continue to work to improve ourselves as we enter a new week
and get ready for a very talented and well coached Southern Nazarene team" Patel stated following the victory.
Jason Douglas-Stanley led the Rangers in scoring with 12 points, followed by Brian Free with ten as the two double-figure scorers for the Rangers. Matej Drgon led the team in rebounding with six, followed by Free and Eric Hancik with four. Free and Bubba Furlong led the team with two assists each.
Northwestern opened the scoring with a Furlong layup assisted by Douglas-Stanley after finding Furlong down low on the post. The Northwestern defense would hold the Tigers scoreless for two minutes to start the game before the Tigers hit a three-pointer to take a 3-2 lead. The Rangers trailed 6-2 for Douglas-Stanley would change the game. He would help the Rangers go on a 12-0 run to take control of the game as he would score all 12 of his points on the early first-half run to take a 14-6 lead with 14:03 to play. Northwestern would never trail in the game again.
Following the media timeout, East Central would cut the Ranger lead to four a few times before Northwestern would push their lead to double digits. Drgon would help lead a 6-0 run to give the Rangers a 10 point advantage at 22-12 after two East Central turnovers halfway through the opening half.
Northwestern's defense held the Tigers scoreless for the next four minutes as the Rangers went on a 9-0 run led by Eric Hancik with five points. Northwestern would shoot 4 of 8 from the field on the run. Northwestern led by 17 with six minutes to go in the half. Northwestern grew their largest lead of the game at the 17 with a 35-18 lead with just over four minutes to play. East Central would close the half on a 10-4 run to cut their deficit to 11 points. A Ravel Moody jump shot gave the Rangers a 39-28 lead at the break.
Jalen Crutchfield would get the scoring started in the second half with a three to cut the lead down to eight. East Central got the Rangers lead down to seven and eventually three following a 10-2 run to open the second half for the home team. Northwestern would counter with a 9-2 run with four points from Anthony Jones and three from Free. This would help Northwestern push the lead back to double digits at 50-40.
The two teams would trade basket for the basket as neither team could gain any significant advantage as the Rangers would hold their 10 point lead for the next three minutes with basket trading off. Northwestern led 67-57 with 4:45 left to play when East Central made their move to climb back into the game. Furlong hit a layup to stay up 69-60. A Drgon foul shot would hold the seven-point lead for the Rangers in the final minutes.
Northwestern holding a 70-64 lead before Shemar Smith of ECU would score seven straight points for the Tigers counter with one Free foul shot to even the score at 71-71. Smith's layup to tie the game at 71-71 with 7.5 seconds left. Free would be fouled with four seconds left as he would knock down two foul shots to push the Rangers in front 73-71. Crutchfield would miss the game-winning shot from three following a deflected inbounds pass as the Rangers would hold on for a 73-71 victory in Ada.
Northwestern will be back in action Saturday, December 11th, in Bethany, Oklahoma, for a conference game following the Lady Rangers at 1:00 PM.
For the latest news and updates on NWOSU Men's Basketball, follow @NWOSUAthletics on TWITTER or visit www.riderangersride.com.
