CLINTON – Battling through early foul trouble and poor shooting for the entire night, Northwest rallied from a 15-point halftime deficit and gave Northeast a scare late before bowing out 75-73 in the NJCAA Region 23 Semifinals Friday night at A.E. Wood Coliseum.

Northeast improved to 17-9 and advances to the region finals Saturday against East Mississippi. Northwest's season came to a close at 17-9, just its sixth loss in the last 26 tries in the region tournament.

Northwest jumped out to a 13-6 lead at the 13:14-mark of the first half, capped by Isaiah Austin's field goal that forced the Tigers to burn their first timeout.

The Rangers' poor shooting started to show minutes later, missing 12 of its next 14 shots that allowed Northeast to take control.

After rallying to tie the game at 17-17, Northeast would outscore Northwest 22-7 the final 6:58 to take a 15-point lead at half. The Tigers did most of their damage with Ranger big men Seth LeDay and Dre'Kalo Clayton on the bench in foul trouble.

Six straight points from Tray Lawson and a Kendall Stafford 3-pointer gave the Tigers their largest lead at 48-29 with 16:58 to play.

Northwest started its comeback with Austin's jumper 47 seconds later and rattled off a 12-2 run to pull within nine. The Rangers continued to pound the ball inside and were able to slowly chip away at the lead with free throws and baskets at the rim.

Trailing 71-61 with 3:52 left, two big baskets by Keelin Jackson and a Mark Partee 3-pointer cut the lead to seven. After two free throws by Tyrin Jones, a steal and layup by Jackson on the ensuing inbounds play with 34 seconds left cut it to 73-70.

A pair of free throws stretched the lead to five with nine seconds left before Clayton's 3-pointer as time expired made the final score 75-73.

A night after tying a season-high with 11 3-pointers, Northwest was 4-for-21 from downtown and shot just 36 percent from the floor – its second worst shooting performance of the season. The Tigers finished at a 41 percent clip.

Northeast's Leroy Buchanan scored 19 of his game-high 29 points in the first half to lead all scorers, while Wesley Harris added 17 points and eight boards. Jones finished with a team-high 20 points for the Rangers, followed by Partee with 13 and LeDay with 12.