ALVA, OKLAHOMA - Northwestern Oklahoma State closed out the victory to end the regular season against Southeastern Oklahoma State on senior day. The two teams battled being tied at halftime and sending the game to overtime before back to back three pointers by Max Alexander won the game for the Rangers.
Northwestern ends the regular season 14-14 as the seven seed in the Great American Conference.
The Rangers were led by Camron McDowell with 44 points hitting six three pointers joined in double figures by Max Alexander with 31 points in the game. Alexander led the team with four assists. DaRaun Clark had four steals as McDowell added four blocks defensively.
Alexander opened the scoring at the 18:33 mark on a fastbreak layup off his own defensive rebound. Condiff answered though for the Savage Storm's first lead of the game at 3-2. Alexander tied the game back at 6-6 before Southeastern went into the first media timeout with an 8-6 lead off a layup from Williams.
The Rangers came out of the break after McDowell scored, starting a 10-0 run capped off by Alexander's eighth point in the half and a 16-8 lead. Williams ended the Ranger run starting a 10-0 run by the Savage Storm going in front 18-16. McDowell silenced a Southeastern run with a three pointer to tie the game at 21-21 with 11:05 left in the first half.
Logan Phillips hit his first shot of the game with a three pointer to take a 26-21 lead on an assist by McDowell. Robert Briley and Camron McDowell traded shots back and forth before a McDowell three pointer put the Rangers back in front 34-32 with 4:33 left in the half. Southeastern went slightly in front from points from DJ Dill to take a 40-39 lead with 1:50 to go in the half.
Southeastern had the last shot in the opening half drilling a three pointer to tie the game right before the break from Dickinson for a 43-43 halftime score.
Southeastern opened the second half with a three pointer from Condiff to go in front 46-43, before extending their lead to seven at 52-45. Southeastern got their lead to 10 at 62-52 with 13:40 left in the game.
Their lead grew to 13 before the Rangers began to climb back into the game as McDowell scored seven straight points cutting the deficit back down to four at 70-66. The teams traded baskets before a steal led to a Dirin Birhiray layup and kept the deficit to four at 74-70. Southeastern maintained the lead until the seconds of the second half.
As the Rangers trailed 88-85 before Dirin Birhiray drilled a corner three pointer assisted by McDowell to send the game into overtime at 88-88.
In the extra moments of the game Southeastern hit the first shot of overtime for the 91-88 lead over the Rangers. Northwestern then scored six straight points to take a 95-93 lead after Alexander completed a three point play drawing the foul and hitting the free throw. Southeastern had a four point lead at 99-95 before Alexander hit a three pointer with two seconds left. The Rangers then forced a turnover down by one point. Off the inbound play McDowell threw the ball up to Alexander who drilled the game winning three pointer at the buzzer to steal the home win in overtime on senior day.
The Rangers closed out the season sweep over Southeastern with the win and will play on Thursday in the Great American Conference tournament in Arkansas.
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