by Athletic Communications
Northwestern Oklahoma State University Rangers dropped their final road game against Great American Conference opponent Henderson State University Saturday afternoon.
The Red-and-Black showed serious grit as they fought their way back from a 19-point deficit in the first half and continued to battle through the second half but could not quite catch the Reddies and took the loss 91-72. This loss gave the Rangers an overall record of 8-18, with a 5-15 record in the Great American Conference.
The Red-and-Black offense was led by Jaedon Whitfield who had 22 points, 5-7 from the field and 10-13 from the free-throw line. Other stand-out players included A.J. Jones with a season-high 17 points and led the team with eight assists and six rebounds. Jack Peck and David Thornton had 10 and nine points respectively.
The Reddies took advantage of their home court early and rolled with the crowd using four three-pointers to pull away from the Rangers after a 9-9 tie. This led to a 15-3 run in Henderson State’s favor and gave them a 26-12 lead with 12 minutes and 57 seconds left in the first half. The lead grew to as many as 19-points with around six minutes left to play which triggered Whitfield and the Red-and-Black to battle back and pull to within 10, heading into the half with a score of 51-41.
A dunk from Thornton started the second half off with a bang. Both teams showed off their defensive skills as the Rangers used a 2-3 zone that was far from the norm for most of their season. The Red-and-Black pulled to within seven points on two different occasions led by Jones and Whitfield. Unfortunately, the Reddies defense kept Northwestern without a field goal for almost six minutes straight and was able to pull away to a 19 point-lead with two-minutes left to play and eventually took the game with a final score of 91-72.