by Madison Parrot, Athletic Communications
Northwestern Oklahoma State University dropped a tough loss to Harding Thursday evening in Searcy, Ark.
The Rangers jumped to a quick start in the first half and held the lead throughout, but the Bisons rallied back to tie the game and send it into overtime. Harding was able to snag the win in the final seconds of OT with a final score of 90-89.
The Rangers needed to start out hot in order to change the momentum that they had been riding, with consistently better second halves. The intentions were clear as they jumped on the board quickly with a score of 10-3 led by Nathan Bailey III. As the game continued NWOSU were able to consistently lead the Bisons throughout most of the first half. With six minutes left on the board Northwestern earned a fourteen-point lead, but Harding fought back as the Rangers went into halftime with a four-point advantage, 39-35.
Northwestern held onto their lead for the beginning of the second half until around the ten-minute mark when a rally began from Harding as they tied the game at 58-58. In the final seconds of regulation, a last-minute effort from the Bisons landed them a three-point bucket to tie the game 80-80 which led to an overtime battle.
Harding came screaming out the gate during overtime and reached their highest lead of the game with a score of 87-82. The Red-and-Black were not done as back-to-back buckets from Hewitt tied the game 87-87 with a little over a minute left on the clock. Unfortunately, a final second buzzer-beater from Hewitt did not fall and the Rangers take the loss to the Bisons with a score of 90-89 as the final.
Northwestern’s bench tallied only 25 points compared to Harding’s 40 which helped the Bisons stay in the game. The Rangers did, however, lead in points off of turnovers with 19 to Harding’s 13.