MOORHEAD – Behind by 12 points with four minutes left to go, Northwest rallied back to pull within three down the stretch but a sizable first half deficit proved to be too much to fully recover from, as Mississippi Delta edged the Rangers 83-76 on Thursday evening.

Northwest dropped to 14-8 overall and 6-5 in division play as Mississippi Delta improved to 9-12 and 2-8 in the MACJC North.

An early 6-0 lead that included a pair of layups from James Richards III quickly evaporated, thanks to back-to-back threes from Darius Jackson that tied the contest at 6-6.

Trailing by five with 13 minutes and change remaining in the opening half, Mississippi Delta embarked on a whopping 30-7 run over the next 10 minutes to gain a 38-20 lead on Northwest with three minutes left to go in the first half.

A Jakobi Pearson three-pointer and a layup from Kavonte Tunstall trimmed the gap a bit for the Rangers in the final minute of the half, but Mississippi Delta still entered halftime with a comfortable 40-27 lead.

Things got worse before they got better for the Rangers in the second half, as the Trojans opened with an 8-0 run to take their largest lead of 21 points, 48-27. After a quick Northwest timeout, Pearson and Richards provided back-to-back fastbreak layups to get the deficit back within 17.

Wayne Lewis would put the Trojans back up by 19 on a three-point basket with 16:15 left, but the Rangers responded with a Duhart dunk, a rare Ernest Minton three-pointer and consecutive baskets from Minton and Pearson to suddenly close the gap to 51-41with 12 minutes to go.

Mississippi Delta kept a stranglehold on its double digit lead until the clock dipped under four minutes, when a Milton McGee, Jr. three-pointer sent the Rangers back within nine.

Pearson's fastbreak layup and a Tunstall three allowed Northwest to move within striking distance, down 71-67 with 3:27 to go.

Although the Rangers clawed their way back from a dismal deficit, Mississippi Delta just always seemed to have an answer and stayed one step ahead of Northwest when it mattered most. Pearson's three sent the Rangers within three with 35 seconds to go, but a pair of subsequent turnovers led to easy baskets for the Trojans to deny any chance of overtime or a full comeback from Northwest.

Pearson's 25 points led Northwest as the Duncanville, Texas native also contributed six rebounds and five steals. Richards added 14 points in the loss, followed by 10 from McGee.

Jackson led all scorers with 27 Mississippi Delta points, while Lewis earned 20 to go along with 16 points and 11 boards from Chavis Banks.

Northwest finished the evening shooting 43 percent from the floor, compared to 51 from the Trojans. MDCC also outscored the Rangers 45-19 off the bench and 28-16 off turnovers.

Northwest will host Holmes on Monday, Feb. 17 for the regular season finale at 7:30 p.m. Sophomore recognition will take place between the women's and men's games.

Links to live stats and broadcast can be found at nwccrangers.com.