ALVA, Okla. – The Northwestern Oklahoma State men's basketball team fell to Henderson State, 70-61, Saturday afternoon.

The Rangers and Reddies battled back-and-forth at the start of the game, with Keyondre Young scoring eight of the first 10 points for the Rangers. Northwestern slowly started to pull away midway through the first half, as the Rangers took a 20-15 lead off buckets from Young, Cam'ron Brown, and Kenny Burns III.

The Ranger defense continued to lock the Reddies down and force multiple turnovers, but Henderson State clawed back to tie the game at 32 with 2:48 remaining in the first half. The Rangers quickly countered with a 7-2 run, as Max Alexander drained a three-pointer to give the Rangers the lead and Burns scored three points on a layup and a free throw to give the Rangers a five-point lead, but a Henderson State three-pointer made it 39-37 in favor of Northwestern at halftime.

Henderson State opened the second half on a 8-2 run to take a 45-41 lead with 16 minutes to play, but the Rangers rallied with baskets from Alexander and Robbie Armbrester to tie the game back up at 45. Neither team could pull away from each other until midway through the half, as Henderson State went on a 7-0 run to take a 59-52 advantage with 7 minutes left. Young knocked down another three to try to spark a Ranger rally, but shots would not fall for Northwestern. The Henderson State lead continued to grow, and the Rangers fell to the Reddies, 70-61.

Young led the Rangers in scoring with 15 points, while Armbrester led in rebounds with eight, and Brown led in assists with five.

The Rangers will be back in action on Jan. 15, when they travel to Monticello, Arkansas to take on the University of Arkansas-Monticello at 7:30 p.m.

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