Alva Review-Courier -

ALVA, Okla. – Northwestern Oklahoma State University Rangers had a tough battle Thursday evening as they faced-off against Great American Conference opponent Southern Nazarene. The Rangers showed extreme grit as they fought against one of the most consistent teams in the GAC. NWOSU came out hot and grabbed the lead at halftime but after a 10-0 run from the Crimson Storm, the Red-and-Black were not able to hang on and took the loss 73-63.

Northwestern's offense was led by Jaedon Whitfield who tallied 22 points and seven rebounds while going 7-10 from the field. Other stand-out Rangers included Clive Allen and Parrish Hewitt who contributed 9 points each. The rest of the points were shared between multiple Red-and-Black, while Allen and A.J. Jones had three assists each. Jones also contributed eight points of his own.

The Rangers came out extremely confident in the first half taking the momentum they were on from last weekend's win and bringing it to the table against top-ranked SNU. The Rangers earned a 52% shooting percentage compared to Southern Nazarene who had a 42% shooting percentage and kept their two leading scorers in check.

It was a battle through and through with 11 lead changes and eight different tied scores. Good defense from both teams led to a close battle throughout the entire first half with a lead no bigger than five points taken by SNU around the 13-minute mark. After tying the score 30-30 with a little under four minutes left in the half, Northwestern's Jack Peck sunk a three from the corner to lead to a 33-32 lead headed into halftime.

The Rangers continued to score early at the beginning of the second half with threes from Hewitt and Allen. Unfortunately for the Red-and-Black the Southern Nazarene offense came alive and went on a 10-point unanswered run to take the lead 53-43. Another few makes allowed the biggest lead of the game to be had by the Crimson Storm with a 15-point differential. Northwestern continued to rally behind Whitfield and pulled to within eight but was unable to hold on and Southern Nazarene snatched the game 73-63.

Northwestern outrebounded the Crimson Storm 30 to 28 and tallied 17 total second-chance points, compared to Southern Nazarene's 10. NWOSU also outscored their opponent's bench with their own as they tallied 19 points compared to 11, from beyond SNU's starting five. The biggest flaw from the Rangers was their inability to prevent their own turnovers as they allowed 12 points off of 11 turnovers compared to Southern Nazarene who only tallied six.