ALVA, Okla.– Northwestern Oklahoma State University Rangers were unable to hang on in a tough battle against Henderson State University Thursday evening. The Great American Conference match-up started out close but HSU began to pull away after some good defense in the second half to take the win 69-84. The Black and Red’s offense was led by Jaedon Whitfield who had 17 points and nine rebounds.

Other stand-out players include Clive Allen who had 15 points and went 8-10 from the free throw line. David Thornton and Jack Peck both had nine points and Nathan Bailey III had eight points. A.J. Jones led the team with five assists.

The game started out with a back and forth battle between both teams and neither could seem to pull away from the other until well into the first half. One team would seem as if they were beginning to pull away and then a big shot put the other right back into the mix. With only three minutes left in the half the Reddies hold a lead six-point lead for almost a minute and then the Rangers come storming back with an 10-2 run to end the first half with a score of 43-42.

Unfortunately, the tides quickly turn after the start of the second half. Around the 18-minute mark the Reddies take off with a huge 19 to two run. Northwestern struggled to score for almost six straight minutes, which allowed Henderson State to jump to a 63-46 lead. The Rangers refused to roll over with a 10-2 run of their own led by Allen. HSU prevented NWOSU from getting too close with good defense and took the game with a final score of 84-69.

Rangers came to play in the first with 19 rebounds to the Reddies’ 16 but were out played in the second only getting 13 compared to HSU 25. Northwestern were held to 38.9% shooting from the field while Henderson was 46.8% throughout the whole game. Henderson State also added 38 points from their bench, compared to 19 from the Black and Red’s bench. NWOSU did outscore HSU on the fast break with 16 compared to their four.