DURANT, Okla. – The Northwestern Oklahoma State basketball team put together their ninth consecutive victory to finish off the 2017-18 regular season with a 77-74 victory on the road over Southeastern Oklahoma State.

The Rangers will finish off the regular season with a 21-6 overall record and a 17-5 record in Great American Conference play. Northwestern will now shift their focus to the GAC Postseason Tournament and a first-round match-up as the No. 2 seed in the bracket with No 7 seed Southern Arkansas.

Junior Treyvon Andres hit the final two buckets of the game in a contest that went all the way down to the wire and was a close-knit affair all the way through. Andres led the way with 15 points and six rebounds and was one of five Rangers in double digits.

Northwestern shot 55.6 percent (30-of-54) from the field on the evening and connected on 5-of-13 attempts from behind the three-point arc. Seniors Trey Johnson and Cody Halvorson both had 13 points while fellow senior Brandon Green totaled five assists. A'keem Oglesby and Greg Minor Jr. served as the other two Rangers in double digit scoring with 12 and 11 points respectively.

Northwestern went to work early offensively and connected on eight of their first 10 shots from the field to build an early 19-10 lead. Ten straight points moving into the 9:30 mark from Southeastern tied the contest up at 22-22 following the quick start from Northwestern.

An intense stretch of basketball continued as both teams pushed the pace throughout the half and battled hard. Back-to-back buckets from Oglesby pushed the Ranger lead back out to five at 33-28 with just over five minutes remaining in the first half.

A flagrant foul on Andres at the 4:31 mark of the first half allowed Southeastern to hit both free throws in order to draw the differential back to just one. A jump-shot on the ensuing possession for the Savage Storm gave them their first lead of the ball game and would kick start a quick six point run for Southeastern that extended their lead to 38-33 with 3:27 remaining in the half.

Johnson sparked the Rangers to an ensuing 10-0 run of their own during which the Phoenix, Arizona, native contributed seven points of his own. That run put Northwestern back ahead 45-40 with 34 seconds remaining in the first half before a free throw from Southeastern made the halftime score 45-41 in favor of the Rangers.

An exciting half of basketball saw both teams post shooting percentages of over 50 percent with the Rangers shooting 58.1 percent (18-of-31) and the Savage Storm shooting 53.6 percent (15-of-28).

Both teams continued their offensive success in the early stages of the second half, combining for 20 total points in the first five minutes of the second half to bring the score to 55-51. A jump shot from the Savage Storm finally tied the contest back up at 65-65 with 7:38 remaining in the contest as the Rangers failed to pull away and build an advantage throughout the middle stages of the second half.

Southeastern continued to press on the offensive side and scored the next five points to establish their largest lead of the game at 70-65 with 6:49 remaining in the game. The Rangers regrouped and used a Halvorson three pointer from the corner to tie the back-and-forth affair back up at 70-70 with 2:36 remaining in the contest.

Andres grabbed his own offensive rebound and laid in the go ahead basket for the Rangers at the 1:11 mark to bring the score to 74-72. Two free throws from Southeastern tied the ball game up at 74-74 with 50 seconds remaining.

After a long offensive possession for Northwestern, Andres came through in the clutch once again and scored in the paint to give Northwestern the lead by two with 22 seconds remaining in the game. A key forced turnover on the ensuing Southeastern possession forced the Savage Storm to foul twice in order to set senior Greg Minor Jr. with a one-and-one opportunity at the free throw line. Minor hit the first shot, but missed the second one and allowed Southeastern to grab the rebound and call a timeout with 1.5 seconds remaining in the game down 77-74.

Southeastern missed the catch-and-shoot attempt and sealed the Ranger victory inside Bloomer Sullivan Arena.

The regular season finale victory will set up a date with Southern Arkansas in the opening round of the tournament for a game scheduled for March 1 at noon.