MONTICELLO, Ark. – Toughness and tenacity remain hallmarks for the Northwestern Oklahoma State men. Marksmanship has been another matter.
Arkansas-Monticello capitalized on a prolonged Ranger scoring drought to hand Northwestern a 71-61 setback.
Northwestern (2-3, 1-1 Great American Conference) led 30-26 at the half but scored just nine points in the first 10 minutes of the final period.
UAM (3-2, 1-1 GAC) burned up the nets with 17-of-24 shooting (70.8 percent) in the second half.
"It's not just playing hard, it's playing well," said Northwestern head coach Andrew Brown. "Right now we're trying to win games shooting 41 percent from the field and in the 20s from three. I don't care how good of defense you play. We're going to eventually see those big runs."
Reminiscent of second-half surges last week by Cameon and Fort Hays State, UAM hit the Rangers with a 15-4 rally coming out the break. The Boll Weevil lead would grow to as many as 15 with 6:32 to play.
The Rangers battled back to within seven points at the 1:55 mark but could get no closer.
Laakeem Henderson led the Rangers with 13 points – 11 of them in the first half. Brandon Wooley (12 points) and Darrian Dempsey (10) also reached double-figures. Bruce Wright narrowly missed his third double-double of the year, collecting nine points and 11 rebounds.
Brandon Wilson (22 points) and Sharif Hudson (21) each had big scoring days for UAM, which shot 50 percent from the floor.
Henderson hit two treys in the first minute of the game to help Northwestern build a quick 6-0 lead. Henderson had the first eight Ranger points.
Wright nailed a three of his own to make it a 13-4 game just over five minutes in.
That scoring pace dropped off rather quickly, allowing UAM to fight its way back into the game. The Boll Weevils tied the score at 21 following a seven-minute stretch that produced just four Ranger points.
Adrian Motley connected on a three with less than a minute to go in the half, and Northwestern stemmed the tide long enough to carry a four-point lead into halftime.
Wright scored on Northwestern's first possession out of the locker room, but then came another ugly seven-minute stretch that produced eight-straight misses from the field and a pair of Ranger turnovers.
Contrast that with UAM, which opened up the half by making seven of its first eight attempts.
As was the case during the early portion of the 2012-13 season, opening weekend in the Great American Conference did little to separate the pack of 11 teams. The Rangers are part of a group of five teams with 1-1 records. All are chasing Southeastern Oklahoma State and Southwestern Oklahoma
State – the only two teams to sweep both conference games.
Northwestern takes a short break from the GAC over Thanksgiving with a road trip to Colorado. The Rangers are scheduled to face Colorado School of Mines and Regis on Friday and Saturday evenings. Broadcasts of both games will be available over the web at www.riderangersride.com.
