SENATOBIA – In front of an electric home crowd on Thursday night at Howard Coliseum, Northwest rallied from a 13-point second half deficit and used three double-doubles to come away with a thrilling, 98-94 win over Southwest.

Northwest (1-0) won its fifth-straight season-opener behind five scorers in double figures while Southwest fell to 0-1 in its season debut.

The anticipated return of head coach Bubba Skelton, after a six-year hiatus, did not disappoint as he grabbed his 200th career win at Northwest and won an unprecedented 35th consecutive regular season home game dating back to the 2003-04 season.

"It was a great crowd last night and I was really surprised to see such a big turnout this early in the season," Skelton said. "We had great involvement by our student body, our band did a great job, and it was just a fun atmosphere. I'd say at a minimum, the crowd was worth 10 points to us on our home floor."

Southwest led 49-48 at the break and used a 12-2 run to open the second half to quickly build an 11-point lead with 16:37 to play. The Bears used a barrage of 3-pointers from Mark Bridgewater and Deville Smith and forced Northwest to call a timeout.

After facing its largest deficit of the game, 68-55, with 13:33 to play, Northwest buckled down on defense and slowly chipped away with multiple buckets at the rim.

A 15-1 run over 3:47 put Northwest on top 92-88 with 49 seconds left, as they turned the Bears over four times and got baskets from all five players on the floor at the time. 

The Rangers then hit 4 of 5 free throws down the stretch to preserve the win.  

In a game that featured 13 ties and 14 lead changes, Northwest got a huge spark from La'Barron Collins (14), Tevin Moore (13) and Rashon Coleman (nine) who scored 36 of the Rangers' 45 points off the bench. Southwest had 19 off its bench.

Jordan Hulsey led Northwest with 16 points and 12 rebounds, followed by Kenyatta Jones with 14 points and 10 rebounds and DeMarcus McVay with 10 and 10. The Rangers outshot Southwest 44 to 39 percent on the night.

Southwest was led by Mississippi State transfer Deville Smith who had 24 points on 8 of 20 shooting and Donovan Ross who added 14 points and 11 rebounds.

Northwest will welcome Mid-South to Howard Coliseum next Tuesday, Nov. 6 at 7 p.m.

Watch live at ihigh.com/nwccrangers or follow live stats at www.sidearmstats.com/northwestms/mbball.