FULTON – Sophomore guard Jakobi Pearson led all scorers with 21 points as Northwest opened division competition with a 65-56 victory at Itawamba on Monday evening.

Northwest improved to 8-2 on the season and 1-0 in the MACJC North, while ICC fell to 1-7 overall and 0-1 in division play.

Tied at five apiece in the early stages of the first half, R.J. Duhart's dunk sparked an 8-0 scoring run for Northwest that saw the Rangers take a 13-5 lead.

Itawamba would quickly close the gap with a run of its own however, taking a 14-13 lead on a Shermontis Mitchell layup with 7:36 left in the first half.

Trailing 19-18 with five minutes left to go, the Rangers took off on a 10-0 scoring run that was capped off by a Pearson three-pointer, giving Northwest a 28-19 advantage.

A jumper and back-to-back free throws from Ma'Darius Hobson cut the Rangers' lead to five but a jumper by Pearson with 26 seconds left sent Northwest into the locker room with a 30-23 halftime advantage.

Northwest shot 43 percent from the floor in the first half as ICC was held to just 33 percent. 

A layup from Pearson with 14:49 left in regulation made it an 11-point lead for Northwest, its largest of the evening. The momentum was short-lived though, as ICC slowly began to work its way back within striking distance, eventually tying the game at 53-53 with 5:22 left to go.

Although the Indians managed to rally back for the tie, the Rangers never trailed in the second half and quickly responded with a 12-0 run that all but sealed the win, giving Northwest a 65-53 lead with just over a minute to go.

Champ Rance's three-pointer brought the deficit back under 10 but the Indians were unable to do any further damage in the closing minute.

In addition to Pearson's 21 points, Duhart collected 13 points, eight rebounds and two blocks. James Richards III also fell just shy of double figures, scoring nine for the Rangers.

Brandon Brown finished with 18 points to lead Itawamba, followed by a double-double from Hobson (14 points, 11 rebounds) and 11 points from Champ.

Northwest will resume action on Jan. 6 against Tennessee Prep.