SENATOBIA – Sophomore transfer Dante Sterling scored a game-high 29 points in his Northwest debut and the Rangers outscored visiting Tennessee Prep Academy by 29 in the second half to pull away for a 114-75 season-opening win at Howard Coliseum.

In the first-ever meeting between the two programs, Northwest was 11-for-26 from deep, had five players finish in double figures and outscored the Diplomats' bench 60-13 on the night. 

TPA scored the game's opening basket but Northwest never trailed for the remainder of the night.

A 12-2 run over the ensuing six minutes, capped by Therrell Gosier II's monster dunk, set the tone for a Ranger rout.

Northwest ended the first half with back-to-back dunks from Jaylan Shelton and an alley-oop from Trey Skelton to Sterling to take a 48-38 lead at half. 

TPA quickly cut the lead to 52-47 with four straight baskets to start the second half before a 13-2 Ranger run put Northwest back on top 65-49 with 13:17 remaining. 

Sterling scored 14 of his game-high 29 points in the second half and Brandon Cranford scored 13 of his 15 as the lead ballooned to 43 with just under two minutes left. 

Northwest shot 52 percent down the stretch, while holding TPA to 27 percent, and wore down the Diplomats' eight-man roster with a 24-4 edge in fast break points.

Behind Sterling's 29, Dakota Dailey finished with 17, followed by Cranford with 15, Shelton with 12 and Gosier with 11. 

Xavier Davenport had a team-high 17 for TPA, followed by Adrian Espinozo's 14 points and 14 rebounds and 13 points and 12 boards from Mike Reese.

Northwest will return to action on Thursday, Nov. 3 at 7 p.m. against Faith Prep Academy.