FULTON – Freshman Jitaurious Gordon led all scorers with 19 points as 18th-ranked Northwest fought through foul trouble to work out a gritty 83-70 road victory at Itawamba on Thursday night.

Northwest extended its winning streak to a season-long nine games and improved to 20-2 (11-1 MACJC North) to post its 19th 20-win season in program history. ICC fell to 8-13 and 3-9 in the division.

Gordon provided the game's first basket on a three-pointer that sparked a 9-0 Ranger run to open the contest.

After trailing by 11 near the middle of the first half, the Indians began to cut into the Northwest lead, trimming the margin down to 20-18 on a pair of free throws from Joshua Greer.

The Rangers then responded with a 15-4 scoring run, highlighted by a fastbreak dunk from Cameron Walker to push the lead back to 35-22.

Aside from a three-pointer from Tre Jenkins that brought ICC within eight, the Rangers led by 10 or more for the final three and a half minutes and took a 42-30 lead into halftime.

Things got a bit more dicey for Northwest in the second half, as the Rangers were whistled for seven fouls within the first five minutes of the half. ICC was also hit with foul trouble as well, with both teams combining for over 50 fouls in the contest.

With most of the starters on the bench in the second half, the Indians sliced into the Rangers' 13-point lead with a 15-2 run, culminating with a layup and free throw from Jenkins that tied the contest at 54-54 with 10:39 left in regulation.

Northwest never allowed ICC to take the lead, however, as Miles Washington's jumper allowed the Rangers to regain a two-point lead. Leading 58-57, NWCC embarked on a 13-1 run in a near five-minute span to create some much-needed separation.

The Rangers led by double digits the rest of the way and a layup from Gordon put Northwest ahead by 17 with 1:33 left to go, delivering the dagger.

Six Northwest players, including three starters, were hit with three fouls or more but none fouled out.

Freshmen Tremont Robinson and Radarius Washington finished with 11 points each. Justin Flakes, Washington and Walker provided the Rangers with valuable minutes off the bench, with Flakes scoring nine points followed by eight apiece from Washington and Walker.

Brian Halums scored 15 points to lead Itawamba, followed by 12 from Greer.

Northwest will now prepare to host the MACJC Tournament next week in Senatobia. As the No. 1 seed from the north, the Rangers will host four-seeded Southwest Mississippi (16-7) on Monday night at 7 p.m. on nwccrangers.com/watch.