BOONEVILLE – In a battle for sole possession of first place in the north division Tuesday night at Bonner Arnold Coliseum, the host Tigers got off to a hot start but had to hold off a last-second chance at the buzzer for Northwest in a hard-fought 78-77 victory.

Northeast, receiving votes in this week's NJCAA poll, improved to 10-3 overall and 3-0 in the north while Northwest dropped to 9-4 overall and 2-1 in division play.

The Tigers used the energy of their home crowd and scored 14 of the game's first 19 points to take a comfortable lead.

A posterizing dunk for Seth LeDay late in the first half, his team-leading 31st of the season, got the Rangers' bench on their feet and jumpstarted a big run for the visitors. A 20-6 spurt gave Northwest a 25-20 lead at the 6:16-mark and they would take a 38-33 lead into the half.

After a slow start, Northwest finished the half shooting 44 percent against 38 percent for the Tigers.

C.J. Chatman had a team-high 10 points off the bench in the half, followed by Keelin Jackson with eight and Dre'Kalo Clayton with seven.

The teams went back-and-forth to start the second half before Jackson's 3-pointer from the corner gave Northwest a 66-59 lead with under 10 minutes to play.

Northeast got the benefit of the whistle down the stretch to eventually pull back in front 73-72, going to the charity stripe on six consecutive possessions with under 3 minutes left.

After two Mark Partee free throws with 15.9 ticks left pulled the game within 78-77, Partee then stole the inbounds pass at mid-court to give the Rangers a final shot to try and win the game.

With the clock winding down, Clayton called the Rangers' final timeout with 1.9 seconds left. Clayton then received the throw in from just inside the 3-point line where his last-second heave was too strong and over the rim.

Jackson scored a game and career-high 19 points off the bench, followed by LeDay with 18 points and 10 boards, his fifth double-double of the year, and 10 points apiece from Tyrin Jones and Chatman.

Northwest will return to Howard Coliseum Thursday night at 7 p.m., playing host to Mississippi Delta.