ALVA, Okla.- The Northwestern Oklahoma Men's Basketball is anxious to get back on the court after Monday's game against Southwestern got postponed due to inclement weather. The Rangers will look to even the season series with the Savage Storm this evening. NWOSU will be coming off of Saturday's loss to Southern Nazarene 57-50. Southeastern is off of an 85-77 win over East Central 

This Thursday night matchup will create a battle between one of the better offensive teams against one of the better defensive teams. Southeastern comes into the game as a top-five scoring team in the Great American Conference with an average of 72.9 points per game. The Savage Storm are fifth in the conference in made three-pointers as well. Northwestern has the fifth-best defense in the conference allowing 71 points per game, while their 3-point defense is holding opponents to a league-best 29% from deep. 

"I'm excited to see our team get another chance to compete on the court.  Our team has been through a lot these past few weeks, but we are going to continue to work to improve.  We have gotten tremendously better on the defensive end of the floor, and hope we can pick up our production on the offensive end." head coach Vinay Patel said for the upcoming game Thursday."

Head Coach, for the Rangers Vinay Patel continues his second season as the head coach of the Ranger program. He holds a 12-24 record with the university, with a 100-80 collegiate record. 

The Rangers enter Thursday with a 2-6 record, 0-6 in Great American Conference play. The Red-and-Black will look to end their five-game losing streak against the Savage Storm. 

"We are asking several guys to play heavy minutes and out of position because we have been short handed.  I'm proud of the fight our guys have shown." coach Patel stated. 

The Northwestern men's basketball team has four players averaging double digits on the season so far. The first one is senior Parrish Hewitt at 14.0 per game. The 14 points are 16th in the conference per game. Deon Barrett is second with 11.7 points per game, along with 5.7 assists, is a Ranger high, as well tied for second in assists per game for the conference. Jack Peck is the third player with 11.5 points per game on 41% shooting. Bubba Furlong is the fourth with an even 10 points per game. His average is shy of 10 rebounds at 9.8 per game, which is a conference-best. Furlong also has 21 blocks on the season now for 9th in all of Division II. His 2.6 per game is third in the nation in blocks per game for Division II. The blocks per game and total are both league bests. 

Southeastern Oklahoma State: 

Southeastern comes into Thursday's game with a 5-7 record on the season and conference play. They will be coming off an 85-77 victory where Adam Dworksy led with 14 points and 12 assists for a double-double. 

Kelly Green is in his 10th season in charge of the Savage Storm Basketball team, with a 141-131 record overall and a 103-95 conference record, with the team. 

Dworsky leads the team in points with 17.2 points per game for third in the conference in points per game. He also leads the Great American Conference with 7.3 assists per game. Southeastern has three other double-figure scorers in Vadim Clanet at 12.0, Kellen Manek 11.3, and Bobby Johnson at 11.1 points per game. Manek Southeastern's, leading rebounder at 6.3 rebounds per game, followed by Dworsky at 6.2 per game.

History: 

Northwestern will look to even the season series between these two teams after dropping the first game in Durant 76-64. Hewitt led the Rangers with 16 points that afternoon, while Furlong followed in scoring with 13 points and 10 rebounds. Clanet led Southeastern with 20 points, followed by Adam Nance with 18. 

Rangers look to snap their five-game losing streak against Southeastern, as their last win came in February of 2018 in a three-point win in Durant. Northwestern, however, leads the series history between the two teams. They enter this game with a 23-21 overall record and 12-9 record in Percefull Fieldhouse.

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