SHAWNEE, OKLAHOMA - Northwestern Oklahoma State was in the semifinal matchup Saturday afternoon against Arkansas Tech in a defensive battle between the two teams for the third time this season. The Wonder Boys won the game over the Rangers 54-53 after a couple points in the final 20 seconds.
Northwestern ends the season with a 17-13 record on the year. Rangers earned the first conference tournament victory since the 2018 season.
The Rangers were led in scoring by Brian Free with 15 points, along with Cam McDowell with nine points. Tshibangu finished with a team high eight rebounds. In the defensive battle the Rangers held Arkansas Tech to 37 percent shooting and 22.2 percent from three.
Northwestern opened the scoring in the first minute of the game with a three pointer by Camron McDowell drilling the shot off a steal. The Rangers in the opening four minutes came out to a 10-6 lead following four straight from McDowell and then Marquise Milton drilling a three pointer off an out of bounds turnover. Northwestern continued the run to 9-0 taking a 14-6 lead building their largest lead of the game to that point. Northwestern continued right before the media timeout as Kennedy Milton drove, passing it off to Shavaul Butters for the assist and a 16-8 lead.
The run for the Rangers continued as Northwestern extended the lead to 13 at 21-8 for the first time over double digits on a three pointer by Brian Free. Arkansas Tech started to chip back into the game and cut the deficit to five after back to back shots by Cassius Brooks as the Rangers lead was down to 26-21. Brian Free as the lead was cut to one possession pushed the Rangers back up to six at 29-23. Arkansas Tech scored six straight to even the score at 29-29 after a driving layup by Brooks for two of his 18 points in the first half. After Arkansas Tech took a quick lead Brian Free pushed the Rangers back in front right before the half for a 31-30 lead.
In the second half Camron McDowell opened the scoring with two points as the Rangers looked to start the half on a run. Northwestern's lead continued to sway back from one back to three as Chance Love added two points and then followed with a three to go up 42-36 with 13:42 remaining in the game.
Kennedy Milton kept it at six before Cassisu Brooks and Peter combined for six straight to cut the Rangers lead down to 44-42. Larry White answered a shot by Kamarad with a drive layup out of the Rangers timeout to keep a three point lead. Northwestern had the lead back out to five with 4:54 left to play.
Arkansas Tech cut the lead down to one at 51-50 before McDowll pushed it back to three at 53-50 but Arkansas Tech scored the last four points of the game and held the Rangers scoreless for the final two minutes of the game as the Wonder Boys came back to steal the win over the Rangers at 54-53 on Saturday afternoon.
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