SCOOBA – A 15-0 run midway through the second helped give Northwest its largest lead at a dozen, but it took a Therrell Gosier II putback and ensuing free throw with 3.6 seconds left for the Rangers to stave off the homestanding EMCC Lions 81-79 Thursday night at Keyes Currie Coliseum.

Northwest picked up its third win in the last four tries in Scooba in improving to 15-2 overall and 6-1 in north division play. It's the Rangers' first season sweep of EMCC since the 2012-13 season.

EMCC (9-9, 2-5 north) scored the game's first five points, Northwest countered with the next 11 and then the Lions scored 10 in a row to make it a 15-11 game early.

Terryonte Thomas scored on back-to-back jumpers to give EMCC its largest lead, 21-14, with 9:47 to play in the half before a 12-2 Ranger run put Northwest in front 26-23.

The teams battled back and forth the ensuing seven minutes until the halftime whistle, with Keith Harris' 3-pointer giving the Lions a 40-37 lead at the break.

EMCC shot 47 percent against 40 percent for Northwest in the half. Tremont Robinson had 13 on 5-of-5 shooting to lead the Rangers, while the Lions were led by 11 apiece from Thomas and Dewayne Cox.

EMCC quickly built its lead back to nine, 48-39, capped off by Ill'yan Scott's dunk with 17:23 to play.

Scott, however, did a pull-up on the rim and was hit with a technical foul that eventually sparked the Rangers' game-changing run.

Robinson hit the technical free throw, and he and Gosier scored the next nine, as part of a 15-0 run over a 4:08 stretch. The Rangers' full-court press was too much for the Lions to handle, with Northwest picking up 13 second half steals, four apiece from Robinson and Justin Flakes.

The Lions pulled back within 57-56 with 8:58 to play, but another 13-2 spurt for the Rangers, started by Gosier's fourth dunk of the night, stretched their lead to a game-high 12.

EMCC countered Northwest's full-court press with one of their own and forced several turnovers with under four minutes to play to eventually tie the game at 78-78 on Cam Horton's corner 3-pointer.

Horton hit the back-end of a two shot foul a possession later to give EMCC a 79-78 lead with 22 seconds left.

Northwest called timeout with 19 seconds left and EMCC elected not to press to setup a possible game-winner.

Robinson's running jumper bounced off the backboard and the front of the rim where a waiting Gosier bodied through contact to pull down the rebound and scored with 3.6 ticks left. His ensuing free throw made it 81-79.

With no timeouts left, a last-second heave from EMCC was long and Northwest walked out a winner.

Despite being outshot, outrebounded and losing the turnover battle, Northwest gritted out win No. 15 of the season.

Behind a career-high 28 points, seven steals, five assists and five rebounds from T. Robinson, Gosier added 19 points and nine boards, Flakes scored 11 and Jitaurious Gordon had 10 to lead the Rangers. Cox led three EMCC scorers in double figures with 23.

Northwest will return home on Monday, Feb. 5 to host division-rival Northeast (14-4, 5-2) at 7 p.m. The game will offer live video and stats through nwccrangers.com.