GOODMAN – The homestanding and 20th-ranked Holmes Bulldogs pulled away from a 13-point halftime lead with strong bench play and 64 percent shooting to defeat Northwest 84-60 in a battle of the top two teams in the north division on Saturday at Frank Branch Coliseum.

Holmes improved to 12-2 overall and 3-1 in the north, while Northwest fell to 11-2 and 3-1 in having a season-long six-game winning streak snapped.

Jitaurious Gordon's 3-pointer at the 14:52-mark of the first half gave Northwest its largest lead at 11-7, but Holmes would respond with a 20-4 run over the next eight minutes to take control of the game.

Mikkel Norment had 14 of his game-high 17 points for Holmes in the opening half as the Bulldog bench outscored the Rangers 25-1 and forced 13 turnovers in the opening 20 minutes.

Holmes quickly stretched its lead to 19 minutes into the second half before a 10-3 run for Northwest brought it to 51-39 with just over 14 minutes left.

A questionable offensive foul call on Justin Flakes on a made basket would've cut the deficit to 10, and maybe nine with a made free throw, but the call went against the Rangers and Holmes would score 15 of the game's next 21 points to stretch its lead to 20.

Northwest was held to a season-low 35 percent shooting on the afternoon against 58 percent for Holmes. The Bulldogs also owned the edge on the glass, 42-29, and in the paint, 50-12.

Tremont Robinson had a team-high 14 points, six rebounds and four assists, followed by Gordon with 11, Therrell Gosier II with eight and Clinton Moses with seven. Norment was one of four Bulldogs in double figures.

Northwest will look to rebound at Coahoma (2-11, 0-3) on Monday, its third game in five days. Tipoff is set for 8 p.m. from The Pinnacle. Live video and live stats will be available through nwccrangers.com.