ALVA, OKLAHOMA - Northwestern Oklahoma State Men's Basketball controlled the game throughout leading to a 70-51 win over Southern Arkansas Saturday afternoon for the second straight win. Rangers jumped out to a 17-6 lead and never looked back leading the rest of the way before closing out the 19-point win.

Rangers improve to 8-8 on the season with a 5-5 conference record while Southern Arkansas drops to 6-10 on the season with a 3-7 record in the GAC.

In the win Northwestern was led by Camron McDowell with 26 points, and Max Alexander who finished with 16 points the only two Rangers in double figures. McDowell led the team with four assists in the game, while Kabeya Tshibangu had a team-high eight rebounds and two blocks. 

McDowell got the scoring started with a layup a minute half into the game before the Rangers controlled the opening minutes in a defensive battle to start the game. Tshibangu put the Rangers up 6-4 with a dunk into the opening media timeout. 

Out of the break, the Rangers went on a 13-2 run led by McDowell with six points as the Rangers forced one turnover but held Southern Arkansas to just 1-8 from the floor in that stretch to open the team's first double-digit lead of the game, extending the lead to 19-6 with 10 minutes left in the opening half.

Max Alexander pushed the lead to the largest of the half on a layup for the 23-8 lead at 15 points. However, Southern Arkansas responded with seven straight points to bring the Ranger lead back into single digits at 25-15 heading into the timeout. Jackson Feely pushed it back to 10 though after a jump shot with four minutes left in the half for the 27-17 lead. 

Southern Arkansas hit a three-pointer followed by a couple of foul shots to push the Ranger lead to as low as seven but DaRaun Clark at the line sent the Ranger into the break up by nine at 31-22. Northwestern shot 46% from the floor in the first half and held Southern Arkansas to 39.1%. 

After the Muleriders scored the first points of the half it was Camron McDowell that pushed the lead back to 10 with a three-pointer for a 34-24 lead. The two teams battled trading points as the Ranger lead hovered in the 9-12 range for the majority of the half. The visitors made their move with back-to-back three-pointers followed by a dunk to get back within six. That was as close as Southern Arkansas could get to before McDowell's layup ended their run giving him 20 points on the night.

Justin Norris drilled a three-pointer assisted by McDowell for the 53-39 lead over Southern Arkansas as the Rangers were able to stretch the lead back to 14. Each Southern Arkansas run the Rangers had an answer for after Northwestern stretched the lead back to 17 at 61-44 following a couple of McDowell foul shots. Logan Phillips gave the Rangers a 21-point lead with two points. The largest Northwestern could extend the lead was 23. 

Kyler Penco put the final touches on the game with a put-back layup off the rebound as the Rangers won in controlling fashion 70-51. 

Northwestern Oklahoma State is back home from the third straight game against Southwestern Oklahoma State on Thursday evening tip-off is scheduled for 7:30 PM.