SENATOBIA - Four Northwest players reached double figures on Thursday night, but a late turnover led to a fast break dunk for East Mississippi with less than 10 seconds left, allowing the Lions to clinch a close 77-74 victory in Scooba.

With the loss, Northwest will start the season 0-1 for the first time since 2015-16. EMCC improved to 1-0 with the victory.

Northwest held all the cards to start the contest, as the Rangers came out firing and took a 13-2 lead on a three-pointer from Jaylon Sanders less than four minutes in. The Rangers largest lead of 13 points would come just minutes later, thanks to another basket from Sanders that made it a 17-4 advantage.

Winning on the road in the MACCC is a difficult task however, and Northwest learned that lesson quickly. After three quick fouls whistled against Wichita State transfer DeAntoni Gordon, the Lions came clawing back and eventually cut the lead down to six at the midway point of the first half.

Although Northwest never surrendered the lead in the first half, the Lions made things difficult and cut the Rangers' advantage to under two points on five different occasions in the first half. A jumper from Tyler Lang with 51 seconds left made it a four-point lead for the Rangers, but Blake Butler delivered the last laugh for EMCC with a three-pointer that sent Northwest to the locker room with a narrow 39-38 advantage.

East Mississippi finally gained its first lead of the night during the early stages of the second half, as a three-pointer from Jakorie Smith set up a fast break layup from Danny Washington, which provided a 46-43 deficit for Northwest.

Neither team led by more than four points the rest of the way, as the wrestling match resulted in nine ties and six lead changes.

Tied 72-72 with 1:14 to go, Hunter McCutcheon drained a three-point bucket for the Lions to make it a 75-72 contest. Ole Miss transfer Carlos Curry followed with a layup to bring the Rangers back within one.

Two breaks went in favor of Northwest within the remaining 30 seconds. A traveling violation against Arecko Gipson, Jr. gave the Rangers possession and despite a missed three-point attempt from Sanders, Gordon brought in the rebound to keep the ball in the right hands with roughly 10 seconds to go.

However, the Rangers' plans of scoring a road upset were quickly dashed as a flawed inbounds pass landed in the hands of EMCC's Danny Washington, who raced up the floor for the breakaway dunk that would seal the game's fate.

Northwest shot 46 percent from the floor and 38 percent from beyond the arc. The Rangers also picked up 33 points off the bench, with 23 of those coming from Curry and James Richards III.

Sanders collected 15 points, four rebounds and four assists in his Northwest debut, followed by a 13-point output from Forte Prater. Quen Kyles also led the Rangers with seven rebounds.

East Mississippi shot 45 percent from the floor and were led by a 20-point, 11-rebound double-double from Jakorie Smith. Gipson, Washington and Blake Butler all finished with 13 points to aid the Lions.

Northwest will now turn its attention to getting into the win column on Monday, January 25 as Itawamba and the Rangers meet in the first of three contests. Tipoff for Monday's battle is set for 6 p.m. at Howard Coliseum, with Michael Gross on the call on nwccrangers.com/watch.