By KEN IRVING
Student Reporter
The NWOSU men’s basketball team won both of their games last week at home, boosting the season record to 7-7, 5-3 for conference.
On Jan. 11, the Rangers beat Ouachita Baptist Tigers, 68-52, and Saturday upped their winning streak to four with a win over Henderson, 79-67.
The game Thursday started out sloppy with turnovers and missed shots by both teams, but with 17:24 left in the first half, senior Kennedy Milton ripped the ball away from a Tiger and threw down a monster jam to ignite the crowd. On the ensuing possession, he snatched the ball away from another Tiger, pushed the ball down the court and passed to senior Marquise Milton, who threw up an alley-oop to redshirt sophomore Kabeya Tshibangu.
Redshirt sophomore Cameron McDowell began to find his stroke as he nailed down a 3-pointer to make the game 13-4 with 12:50 left in the first half.
The Tigers called timeout and then scored 5 quick points, forcing the Rangers to call time out.
As the first half wound down, redshirt senior Larry White knocked down a 3-pointer. Ouachita attempted a layup, but White rejected it off the glass. The Tigers, not fazed by the Rangers momentum, knocked down three 3-pointers in a row to close the gap to within 2. The score was 20-18 with 4:07 left in the first half. The Rangers ended the half 28-22.
The Tigers scored a layup to kickstart the second half and Kennedy Milton responded with a step back mid-range jumper. On the next possession, he put back a miss from the Rangers. After a Tiger miss, he threw in another layup and his quick 7 points forced a Tiger timeout.
Marquise Milton aided a 14-1 run for the Rangers with a contested 3-pointer, and once again Kennedy Milton drained another midrange jumper to force another Tiger timeout.
The Tigers ended the game 16 points behind.
Top scorers: Cameron McDowell, 16 points; Kennedy Milton, 14 points.
NWOSU 76, Henderson State 67
Kennedy Milton’s 3-pointer about a minute into the game, kicked of the scoring against the Reddies on Saturday. Graduate student Brian Free fired his own three and the Rangers were up 10-3 with 14:21 left in the first half.
The Reddies went on a quick run, but Free put a stop to that with another deep 3-pointer.
McDowell drove into the lane and got contacted in the head but finished at the rim to add to the lead.
The Reddies capitalized on a couple of missed shots from the Rangers and drained a deep 3-pointer from the logo to get within 1 point.
After an eyebrow-raising foul call on the Rangers, the Reddies took the lead off free throws.
White then got fouled and is free throws tied the game. Later he spun the ball off the glass for a circus layup to take the lead.
Marquise Milton added back-to-back 3 pointers, and the Rangers went into the half up 40-36.
The Rangers didn’t miss a beat when they came out of the tunnel. Free knocked down his own back-to-back 3 pointers and the Rangers were ahead 10 with 15:50 left to play.
The Reddies cut the Rangers lead to 5 with 8:55 left to play. Then McDowell knocked down a leaning 3-pointer. He drove into the corner and banked a 3 off the glass. With 3:37 left to go, McDowell drained a contested step back 3.
