Alva Review-Courier -

Arkadelphia, Ark. – Northwestern Oklahoma State University Rangers faced a tough loss against Great American Conference opponent Ouachita Baptist. The Red-and-Black held the advantage for the first half as they outscored their opponent 46-35. Northwestern controlled the game for most of the second half until the Tigers came crawling back to take the game in the last few minutes 90-88.

Northwestern's offense was led by Jaedon Whitfield who tallied 29 points and eight rebounds while going 7-8 from the field. Other stand-out Rangers included Parrish Hewitt and Jack Peck who both had 13 points each. Hewitt went 3-8 from deep and led the team. Peck went 3-for-6 from deep and had four rebounds of his own. Cole Jones and A.J. Jones had 12 and 10 points respectively with A.J. Jones leading the team with eight assists.

The Rangers started the first half of the game trailing the Tigers and could not find a way to break their lead until a made three by Peck really put Northwestern in gear around the ten-minute mark. Seconds later a slam from Whitfield really put NWOSU into overdrive. The Red-and-Black really put the Tigers on the heels and took their first lead of the game after back-to-back threes from Hewitt. Northwestern continued their momentum through the rest of the half and went into halftime with a 46-35 lead.

Northwestern continued to hold at least a ten-point lead for the first part of the second half and took their highest lead of the game of thirteen points with 18 minutes left in the game. However, Ouachita Baptist was out of the picture yet. An 8-0 run from the Tigers got them within four and gave them the momentum they had been searching for all game. The Rangers continued to battle back with a three from Peck and a layup from A.J. Jones. There were seven different tied scores within the last six minutes. The Tigers were able to take the lead within the final minute and held on to take the game 90-88.

Northwestern led Ouachita Baptist in both second chance points and points from the bench, 19 to their 15 and 20 to their 15. Despite both teams having low turnover rates, the Tigers forced the Rangers to turn over the ball 10 times which allowed them 16 points off of said turnovers. The Red-and-Black out-rebounded Ouachita 35 to 30 wit ten made threes to their eight.

The Rangers were to head right across the road to face GAC opponent Henderson State University for their second face-off of the season Saturday afternoon.