EDMOND, OKLAHOMA - Northwestern Oklahoma State Men's Basketball opened the season in the MIAA / GAC Challenge with a comeback win over Northeastern State. The Rangers trailing by seven at the break and at most 18 overall in the game out scored Northeastern by 11 in the second half to steal the win.
Rangers start the season 1-0 following the victory as Northeastern drops to 0-1.
Max Alexander led the Rangers in scoring with 34 as one of three double figure scorers and two with 30+. Camron McDowell finished with 30. Justin Norris led the team with six rebounds in the evening.
Justin Norris started the scoring off a defensive rebound before turning that into points for the early lead. After trailing 5-4 the Rangers used a turnover on a steal by Daraun Clark into a fastbreak dunk for the 6-5 lead sparking a run as McDowell followed with a transition three off a steal by Max Alexander. The run continued to 8-0 following a three pointer by Justin Norris for the 12-5 lead. The Rangers continued to hold the seven point advantage halfway through the opening half at 22-15.
Northeastern State then slowly started closing the gap as over the next four minutes used a 9-3 run to get back within one point following a three pointer by Keon Edwards. McDowell ended their run with a layup to go back in front by three but another Northeastern three pointer evened the score with 5:55 left in the half. Northeastern State completed a 9-0 run following three straight three pointers to take a 33-27 lead over the Rangers. The run continued stretched to 14-1 as the Riverhawks went in front 38-28 with three minutes left in the half. Rangers were able to get as close as five late in the half on a dunk by Cam McDowell to cut the deficit to 47-42 but Northeastern had a layup at the last second to go into halftime leading 49-42 over the Rangers.
Northeastern State was the first to score in the second half on a three pointer by Taven Washington to take a 52-42 advantage over the Rangers. A quick 5-0 run completed by a Justin Norris three pointer had the Rangers back within five at 56-51. However Northeastern State used a 14-1 run again to push their lead to 18 points at 70-52 following a couple of foul shots with 12:57 left in the game.
A combination of Max Alexander and Cam McDowell offensively led a comeback charge combining for the next 11 Rangers points as the Rangers cut the deficit back down to seven with 6:34 left in the game. With 3:34 left Kabeya Tshibangu got it down to five at 82-77 the closest the Rangers had been in the half before a Max Alexander layup brought it to four at 84-80. Alexander then off a Tshibangu blocked shot got the rebound lead to a couple of foul shots to even the score at 84-84. After the score was tied 86-86, Clark had the big defensive play coming up with a steal leading to a couple of foul shots to take a 88-86 lead over Northeastern before closing out the 90-86 victory from Justin Norris foul shots as the Rangers completed the 18 point comeback over Northeastern State.
The Rangers return to action for the final game of the weekend against Central Oklahoma with tip off set for 4:30 PM.
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