ALVA, OKLAHOMA - Northwestern Oklahoma State Men's Basketball (2-3, 0-0) returns to action Thursday evening when the Rangers travel to Ada, Oklahoma to square off with East Central Tigers (3-2,0-0) for the conference opener.
Northwestern is looking for their first conference opening win since the 2017-2018 season where the Rangers finished 17-5 in GAC play.Â
The Rangers come into the matchup coming off a loss to Midwestern State University at home looking to get back in the win column after winning the two games before. East Central also comes in coming off a loss after winning three straight in a 104-75 loss to Dallas Baptist University.Â
The Tigers entered the season coming off a year where they went 13-9 in the GAC, and entered the season projected 5th in the preseason poll by the conference coaches. Northwestern begins conference play coming off a 7-15 season and was projected ninth by the conference coaches.
Northwestern's offense has been led by Brian Free and Camron McDowell as the two Ranger players averaging double figures on the season. Free is scoring 13.6 points per game while shooting 41% from behind the arc with a team high sixteen three pointers. McDowell has been scoring 10.6 point an outing on 51.2% shooting from the floor.Â
Larry White has been the team's leading rebounder averaging 7.4 per game while also getting it done on the defensive side of the ball with nine steals and four blocks.
On the other side of the court East Central has been led by Bryce Woolridge is their leading scorer at 11.8 points per game as one of three players averaging double figures joined by teammates Keyon Thomas, and Godsgift Ezedinma.Â
Northwestern looks to snap a two game losing streak against the Tigers after two losses last season. Overall in the last five games Northwestern is 2-3 and 10-13 overall in the season since 2013. Brian Free and Larry White led the Rangers in scoring in those two games.Â
You can follow the game in three ways as the game can be watched on East Central's sports network at https://adasports.net/xfactor live stats can be found at https://ecutigers.com/sidearmstats/mbball/summary and listened to on https://www.alvaradio.com/ as Dustin Goodno has the play-by-play call.
For the latest news and updates on NWOSU Athletics, follow @NWOSUAthletics on TWITTER or visit www.riderangersride.com.
