SENATOBIA – Trailing by as many as 21 in the opening half with its top scorer on the bench in foul trouble, Northwest mounted a huge second half rally and got the lead down to three with 7:50 left before Pearl River eventually held on for an 83-77 victory in the MACJC Championship Game Thursday night at Howard Coliseum.
Northwest lost for the first time all season at home and had an 11-game winning streak snapped in falling to 22-3. PRCC improved to 21-4.
Tied 8-8 at the 14:32-mark of the first, PRCC took control of the game with a 25-6 run the ensuing 7 minutes and never trailed the rest of the night.
Tremont Robinson was whistled for consecutive touch fouls in a 1:03 span and had to sit on the bench for 14 minutes of the first half, taking the Rangers' top scorer off the floor during the Wildcats' massive run. He checked back in and was hit with his third foul within one minute.
PRCC couldn't miss from the floor, hitting 9 of 14 shots during its run by six different Wildcats.
The PRCC lead was 46-29 at half, with the Wildcats shooting 46 percent against 27 percent (8-for-30) for the Rangers.
The Wildcats maintained a double digit lead for the opening 10 minutes of the second half until Northwest mounted a small run of its own to get within striking distance.
Northwest went on an 11-1 run to get within 60-57 at the 7:50-mark, with
Miles Washington,
Therrell Gosier II,
Jitaurious Gordon and
Radarius Washington combining for all 11.
Back-to-back baskets from Cameron Douglas and Jartavius Dobbs extended the lead back to seven and the Rangers got no closer than four the rest of the way.
PRCC, who missed 10 free throws the first 38 minutes, hit a clutch 12-of-12 free throws the final 1:27 to hold off any chance of a Northwest comeback. The Wildcats were held without a field goal the final 3:30.
The Wildcats outshot Northwest 47 to 38 percent, won the turnover battle and outscored the Ranger bench 40-9.
T. Robinson scored 19 of his game-high 20 points in the second half with four fouls, with Gosier adding 19 points and 12 rebounds, Gordon scoring 14 and R. Washington with 13 points and eight boards.
PRCC was led by Jonas James' 20 points, 15 from Eric Thornton Jr. and 14 from Cedric Brim Jr.
Northwest will now turn its attention to the NJCAA Region 23 Tournament March 6-9 at A.E. Wood Coliseum in Clinton. The Rangers face Southwest Mississippi at 1 p.m. on Tuesday, March 6.
