by Athletic Communications
Northwestern Oklahoma State University Rangers showed a team-mentality Saturday afternoon as they faced-off against Great American Conference opponent East Central. The Rangers took the game with a final score of 84-76.
Northwestern’s offense was led by Parrish Hewitt who tallied 18 points and four rebounds. Other stand-out Rangers included
Jaedon Whitfield and Nathan Bailey III who had 16 and 14 points each. Whitfield went 5-8 from the field and led the team with seven rebounds. Bailey went three-for-three from deep and had six rebounds of his own.
The Rangers and the Tigers began the first half with a back-and-forth battle and five different lead changes within the first six minutes of play.
After a tied score of 15-15 with 11 minutes left in the half, it seemed like East Central was about to pull away until back-to-back threes from the NWOSU gives them a 24-21 lead.
The Red-and-Black picked up exactly where they left off with three straight jumpers to continue their momentum. Northwestern was able to hold the lead for almost 30 minutes
Northwestern led the Tigers in multiple categories and improved on multiple different things including spreading the scoring out between multiple Rangers. There were 12 assists for NWOSU and led in points off turnovers with 24 to the Tigers 14.
The Rangers will head back to Alva, Okla. to face GAC rival Southwestern Oklahoma State University for their second face-off of the season, first in Percefull Fieldhouse.
Tip-off starts at 7:30 p.m. after the Lady Rangers play their game on Thursday. The theme for the night is Blackout. SGA will be handing out T-shirts at the start of the women’s game.