SENATOBIA – Northwest shook off a slow start and rallied from an 11-point first half deficit on Monday night to defeat Itawamba 68-61 and sweep the season series over the Indians.

Northwest improved to 13-6 overall and 5-3 in the division while ICC fell to 11-8 overall and 4-4 in the north.

Martaveous McKnight scored 16 first-half points for ICC and had the first seven of the game to help the Indians take a 15-4 lead.

Baskets from numerous Ranger reserves helped start a nice run to close the half with C.J. Chatman and Lewis Freeman scoring five apiece to give Northwest a 28-24 lead at the break. Freeman's 3-pointer at the buzzer helped the Rangers take all the momentum into the second half. 

After starting the game 7-for-8 from the floor, ICC missed 16 of its final 17 shots that allowed the Rangers to string together an 18-4 run over the final 9:49.

The teams exchanged baskets for the opening nine minutes of the second half before Northwest started to pile it on.

Seth LeDay had four rim-rocking dunks in a five-minute stretch to help the Rangers pull ahead by a game-high 20 points with 3:06 to play. He had 16 of his game-high 19 points in the second half.

ICC closed the game on a 15-2 run and banged in four threes to make the final margin 68-61.

LeDay (19) and Chatman (12) were the lone Rangers in double figures, followed by Tyrin Jones with eight points and a career-high five assists. McKnight, held to just two points in the second half, finished with 18 for ICC, followed by seven points and 13 boards from Howard Thomas.

Northwest will play host to Northeast at 7 p.m. on Thursday live on www.nemcctv.com.