ALVA, OKLAHOMA- The Northwestern Oklahoma State Men's Basketball team returned home Saturday afternoon against Oklahoma Baptist, for a Great American Conference matchup. The Bison used a strong second half to take control of the game with a 87-74 victory after outsourcing Northwestern by ten in the second half.
Northwestern drops to 2-5 on the season with an 0-2 conference record while Oklahoma Baptist improves to 5-3 with a 2-0 conference mark.Â
The Rangers were led in scoring Saturday by Brian Free with 26 points along with three rebounds and three assists. He was joined in double figures by Larry White with 15 points.Â
Larry White opened the scoring for the two teams off the opening tip-off taking the ball to the basket for an early 2-0 lead, then following an Oklahoma Baptist miss to give the Rangers an early 4-0 lead. After Oklahoma Baptist tied the game at 6-6 the Rangers grabbed the lead right back following a dunk by Kabeya Tshibangu and a Brian Free three pointer for an 11-8 lead over the Bison. However Trevin Wad drilled a three of his own to tie the score right back at 11. The Bison grabbed their first lead of the game on a three pointer by Udoumoh at the 14:14 mark of the first half.Â
The Bison completed a 10-0 run though here taking a 21-13 lead over the Rangers on 4-4 shooting including two three pointers in that two and a half minute stretch on Northwestern. Two Camron McDowell foul shots ended their run before taking another run this time 7-0 taking their first double digit lead of the game at 27-15. Chance Love scored four straight for the Rangers cutting the deficit back to eight with 9:41 left in the half. Oklahoma Baptist though held a ten point lead though at 37-27 following a Wade three pointer.Â
In the final five minutes of the first half though the Rangers went on a run to get back in the game started by a transition fastbreak dunk for White following a steal of his own on the other end. This was followed by a Free jump shot and an alley-oop assist to Tshibangu. The Rangers dropped their deficit to as close as one following a three pointer by McDowell and a dunk by Larry White making the game 41-40 before Oklahoma Baptist knocked down two foul shots with under a minute to go for a 43-40 lead in which they took into the halftime break.Â
As Northwestern continued to try and steal the lead the Rangers opened the second half with a layup from Larry White bringing the deficit back down to one. Oklahoma Baptist though had an answer as Wade drilled a three pointer for his 16th point at the time starting a 16-8 run for the Bison over the next five minutes extending their lead back to double digits at 59-48.Â
The Bison continued with a 12-3 run over the next three minutes and change as they extended their lead to the largest at that point of the game at 66-49 on an alley-oop dunk from Nathan Wilson. Halfway through the second half their lead stayed the same with a 70-54 lead over the Rangers.
Oklahoma Baptist was able to push their lead to 20 points at 79-59 before the two teams traded three pointers a White hit one before Ricky Brown hit one for his ninth point of the game. After the Bison hit their largest lead of the game at 87-66 for a 21 point lead with two minutes remaining the Rangers closed the game on an 8-0 run started by a Brian Free three pointer as he hit back to back shots before Kennedy Milton scored the final two points of the game.
The Rangers dropped the Saturday game by a final score of 87-74 against the Bison. Northwestern will be back in action on Saturday afternoon against Southern Nazarene in Bethany, Oklahoma on December 2nd.
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