Alva Review-Courier -

ALVA, Okla. – Northwestern Oklahoma State University Rangers earned a season sweep of Arkansas Tech after taking a buzzer-beater in January. Northwestern showed hustle and had an array of unlikely players step up to help take the win. They led through most of the first until the Wonder Boys fought back to tie it at the half. The Rangers returned with a fire and led throughout the rest of the game and took the win with a final score of 85-78. This win gave the Rangers an overall record of 9-18, with a 6-15 record in the Great American Conference.

The Rangers' offense was led by David Thornton who had a career-high 30 points in the next-to-last collegiate game of his career. Thornton went 13-19 from the field with one three-pointer and four rebounds. Other stand-out players included Jack Peck with 15 points as he went 2-5 from beyond the arc. Parrish Hewitt and Cole Jones had 10 and nine points each while A.J. Jones led the team with 11 assists and seven rebounds.

The Wonder Boys were able to start the game with the lead but were unable to hold on for very long. Back-to-back layups from Thornton and Jaedon Whitfield gave the Rangers their first lead of the half and an exclamation point from Whitfield from beyond the arc set the tone for the rest of the half. Northwestern led by as many as 11 points with 13:03 on the clock.

A 9-1 run from Arkansas Tech with a slam as emphasis brought the Wonder Boys to within two points and kept them to within five points through the final part of the first half. ATU was able to tie the score three times within the final couple minutes and took the lead once but was quickly tied by a Cole Jones three to send the game into halftime with a 36-36 score.

A dunk from Thornton started the second quarter off with a bang. The Rangers never looked back when the score reached 45-43 after a lay-up from Thornton. The Red and Black led the entire second half with as much as a nine-point lead and as little as a two-point lead. The Wonder Boys were able to draw within three points with only a 1:25 left to play, but free throws from A.J. Jones and Thornton around a lay-up from Peck allowed NWOSU to take the win with a final score of 85-78.

Northwestern excelled on multiple different facets throughout the game showing off hustle as well as sharing the ball as the Rangers had 19 assists. They also caused 14 turnovers and earned 17 points off said turnovers. The largest margin between the two teams was that the Ranger bench earned 48 points to the Wonder Boys 22.