SENATOBIA – Three players finished in double figures for Northwest on Thursday evening as the Rangers earned the season sweep against division foe Itawamba, defeating the Indians 71-65 at Howard Coliseum.

Northwest improved to 12-6 overall and 4-3 in the MACJC North Division as ICC fell to 7-10 and 3-4 in division play.

Northwest led 6-1 in the early stages of the first half before the Indians rallied back with a 10-2 run that boosted ICC to an 11-8 advantage.

A pair of Tyler Smith free throws put ICC up 15-10 at the 13:18 mark of the first half before a layup from Deveon Miller and five quick points from Jakobi Pearson made it a 17-17 tie for the Rangers.

Rance Champ's quick three-point response would then spark another big run for the Indians as Northwest fell behind by as many as 11 points, 29-18.

Trailing by nine with 4:44 remaining in the opening half, a trio of huge outside baskets from Milton McGee, Jr., Zatryrusious Jones and Kavonte Tunstall rapidly brought Northwest back to a 33-all deadlock with 2:32 left before halftime.

Free throws allowed ICC to push itself back to a three-point lead before Tunstall once again tied the contest on a three-pointer. The first half ended with a pair of layups from ICC's Michael Crump and Mario Fenner, Jr., sending both teams into the locker room with a 38-38 tie.

After five lead changes and two ties to open the second half, Northwest finally began to gain some breathing room with R.J. Duhart and James Richards III earning a pair of layups apiece, giving the Rangers a nine-point advantage at 61-52 with 9:12 left to go.

Northwest's scoring run came in the midst of a nearly eight minute scoring drought for Itawamba, allowing the Rangers to push their lead to as many as 12 points.

Brandon Brown would finally break the silence for Itawamba on a jumper with just under six minutes to go, sparking baskets from Shamar Brown, Kendricus Carlton and a three-pointer from Champ that cut the Rangers' lead down to five with 3:37 left in regulation.

That would be as close as the Indians would come down the stretch though, as shots from Pearson and a pair of free throws from Richards helped Northwest hold on to the six-point victory at home.

Pearson led Northwest with 18 points and four rebounds, followed by a 15-point effort from Richards and an 11-point, seven-rebound performance from Duhart.

Four Indians came away with 10 or more points in the loss, led by 14 from Smith and a 13-point, 10-rebound effort from Brown.

Northwest shot 51 percent on the night, compared to 43 percent from Itawamba. The Rangers also shot 40 percent from beyond the arc.

Northwest will now seek redemption at Coahoma on Monday, Feb. 3 at 7:30 p.m. The Tigers edged the Rangers by two, 69-67, earlier this season in Senatobia.

Monday's battle in Clarksdale can be streamed through coahomasports.com with live stats available at nwccrangers.com.