ALVA, OKLAHOMA - Northwestern Oklahoma State hits the road for the first of three straight games away from Percefull Fieldhouse. The first is Thursday evening with tip-off set for 7:30 PM in Arkadelphia, Arkansas against Henderson State Reddies following the Lady Rangers game.
This is the first of two meetings between the two programs this season. Northwestern Oklahoma State enters Thursday with a 5-5 overall record and a 1-5 Great American Conference mark. Henderson State comes in with a 7-5 overall mark and a 4-2 Great American Conference record.
Overall this is the 19th meeting between the two schools dating back to 2012. Henderson State leads the series 10-8 overall over the last 11 years. Last season Henderson State and Northwestern split the season series 1-1 each protecting their homecourt. The Reddies are 7-3 in the last 10 meetings and won the most recent matchup 72-69.
Northwestern split last week 1-1 against Southern Arkansas and Arkansas Monticello as the Rangers look to build off the win against the Weevils. The Rangers won Saturday's matchup against Monticello behind a 29 point performance from Malik Parsons and a 22 point outing from Brian Free. Parsons is coming off his third Player of the week award this season after averaging 26 points per game on 52% shooting.
The Rangers have two players averaging double figures this season in Parsons at 22.6 per game Brian Free at 14.9 on the year. Free leads the team in three point shooting knocking down 37 this season. Parsons has the highest percentage at 41.9%. Parsons and Free lead the team in assists this season as Parsons has 39 followed by Free with 31 on the year.Â
The Northwestern defense has been led by Larry White with 17 steals (tied for the team high) and 17 blocks on the season while averaging 4.3 rebounds per game with 9.9 points. Shavaul Butters leads the Rangers with 20 blocks on the season along with bringing down 8.7 rebounds per game. Northwestern is sixth in Division II with 5.3 blocks per game which ranks first in the conference. Northwestern is fourth in the conference in steals per game with 8.6.
Henderson State:
The Reddies enter play Thursday winners in three of their last four including two conference wins over Harding and Oklahoma Baptist before losing to Southern Nazarene on January 7th. In the loss Franck Kamgain and Tomislav Miholjcic led the way with 10 points each as the two double figure scorers.Â
This season Henderson State has three players averaging double figures in Franck Kamgain at 13.7 points per game followed by Miholjcic and Alvin Miles at 10.5 and 10.0 per game. Miles leads the team with 48 assists on the season followed by Kamgain with 19.Â
The defensive side of the ball Zyon Patterson leads the team with 14 steals on the season tied with Alvin Miles. Ryan Boyce leads the team with 13 blocks on the year. Miholjcic and Riddle are the team leaders in rebounds per game with 5.9 and 5.4 on the year.Â
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The game can be found on Henderson State's live stream at https://www.youtube.com/@ReddieAthletics1/streams and followed live through the stats at https://stats.statbroadcast.com/broadcast/?id=431167&_gl=1*rsqzdp*_ga*MTU0NjkyMzA2OS4xNjczNTMzNDA0*_ga_2ZWVK1X7BJ*MTY3MzUzMzQwMy4xLjAuMTY3MzUzMzQwMy4wLjAuMA.. Â
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