FULTON – Behind freshman Jordan Hulsey's first career double-double and a season-high 23 points from sophomore A.J. Cunningham, Northwest trailed just once in the game's opening 5 minutes and dominated the rest of the way in an impressive 77-61 road win at Itawamba Thursday night. 

In a league where north division road wins are so important, Northwest won for just the third time in the last three years away from Howard Coliseum. The Rangers improved to 5-7 overall and 1-2 in the north, while Itawamba dropped to 6-8 overall and 2-1.

Itawamba standout and Mississippi State transfer DJ Gardner showed out in the first half in scoring 16 of his game-high 27 points, but a balanced Ranger scoring attack of eight players in the column gave Northwest a 41-34 lead at the half.

The Indians built a game-high 8-2 lead in the opening minutes, thanks to buckets from Gardner, Nick Moncure and Deontaye Ewing, but the Rangers rallied back to tie the game and took a 13-8 lead after an 11-0 run.

From there, the Rangers were clicking on all cylinders and pushed their lead out to double figures, capped by Kendrick Moore's breakaway dunk to put Northwest up 31-17 with 5:23 left in the first.

Northwest shot an even 50 percent in the half against 40 percent from Itawamba, using 10 points from Cunningham, nine from Hulsey and seven big points from Domonique Harris off the bench to take a 41-34 lead at intermission.

Itawamba scored five unanswered points out of the half to trim the lead down to two, 41-39, crashing the offensive glass five times for second chance points.

Eight points from Cunningham in a 2-minute span and a layup from Kenyatta Jones shifted the momentum back to Northwest, and it was all Rangers the rest of the way. A 19-2 Northwest run over the ensuing 5:30 broke the game wide open at 58-41, with Bernard Jones' 3-pointer sending the Ranger bench into a frenzy.

The Rangers closed the night shooting 50 percent, the sixth time this season over that mark, and connected on 8-of-20 3-pointers. Nine different players found the scoring column, including Everick Morris who scored six points and dished out nine assists against zero turnovers.

Northwest will return to Howard Coliseum on Monday, hosting Holmes (10-4, 3-1 north) in a big north matchup. Fans can access live stats (follow here) and live video (watch here) courtesy of Northwest.