ALVA, OKLAHOMA - The Ranger Men's Basketball team faced off against Arkansas Tech Saturday afternoon to close out the season series. The Wonder Boys took the weekend matchup 70-63 to split the season series with the Rangers.
The loss drops the Rangers to 15-11 on the season with a 13-7 conference record. This was the first home loss since December 16th.Â
Northwestern was led in scoring by Camron McDowell with 22 points followed by Chance Love who finished with 10 as the only two double figure scorers of the afternoon. Larry White finished the game with three blocks and three steals each.Â
Tech opened the scoring after both teams went scoreless in the opening minute of the game on a three pointer by Kade Shaffer. Marquise Milton hit the first shot for the Rangers with 16:58 left in the first half after going scoreless in the first three minutes. At the first media break stoppage Arkansas Tech led 5-4 in a defensive battle to start the half.Â
Arkansas Tech stretched their lead out to eight at 15-7 following a three pointer by Braden Tanner. Jabiri Smith answered with his first three pointer of the afternoon. The Rangers took their first lead with 10:31 left in the first half on a three pointer by Chance Love to take a 18-17 lead. The run stretched to 11-0 for the Rangers to take a 22-17 lead following two points from Kennedy Milton. Brooks answered with five straight of his own to tie the game at 22-22 with 7:55 left to play in the first half.Â
The two teams went back and forth trading points before the game was tied at 30-30 with 2:40 left to play in the half after Kabeya Tshibangu tied the game. Larry White gave the Rangers the lead on an offensive rebound putback slam to take a 32-30 lead. The Wonder Boys closed the half with four straight to take a 34-32 lead over the Rangers into halftime.Â
Arkansas Tech scored the second half's first five points to take a 39-32 lead over the Rangers. Tshibangu was the first Ranger to score in the half. Arkansas Tech continued to hold the lead as a Taelon Peter three pointer pushed their lead to eight at 47-39.Â
The visitors lead grew to as many as 11 after Trey Allen pushed the lead to 56-45. Seven straight from McDowell helped the Rangers close the gap to four with 7:22 left in the game at 58-54. A Kennedy Milton three pointer brought the Rangers closer after an Arkansas Tech layup as the Rangers trailed 60-57.
Arkansas Tech answered though with a run pushing their lead back to 10 at 68-58 with 2:21 left to play in the game. Out of the timeout the Rangers got five straight on a three pointer by McDowell followed by two from Larry White but the Rangers could not climb back dropping the Saturday game by a final score of 70-63 Saturday afternoon.Â
The Rangers will have their final home game of the season against Southern Nazarene on Thursday evening with tip-off scheduled for 7:30 PM.
