ELLISVILLE - Down by 11 with less than five minutes remaining, eighth-seeded Northwest rebounded with a 14-0 run and closed out the final play with a critical defensive stop, defeating No. 9 seed Jones College by a 72-70 final on Thursday evening.

DeAntoni Gordon led the way with a career-high 27 points, while Forte Prater provided 21 points off the bench. Gordon also pulled down eight of the team's 27 rebounds.

With the win, head coach Shane Oakley also garnered his second playoff victory in as many seasons. 

Tradavis Thompson's layup gave Jones its final lead of the first half less than four minutes in, and it was all Northwest from there. Trailing 11-9, Jaylon Sanders drained a three to spark a three-point shooting clinic for the Rangers.

After getting a pair of threes from Prater and Trey Jackson, Northwest inched its lead to five, thanks to a Tyler Lang jumper with 8:33 left in the half.

Northwest led by as many as eight points three different times over the remainder of the first half and went into the locker rooms with a 36-29 advantage.

Oakley's club wasted little time pushing the lead to double digits to open the second half, as a Gordon tip-in and a Lang three-pointer made it an 12-point deficit for the Bobcats.

Jones had no intentions of going away quietly on the home floor, however, and the Bobcats took advantage of cold Northwest shooting to go on a 21-5 run and retake a 52-48 lead with 12:32 left.

Jones went up by 11 with 4:54 to go, but that's when the Rangers' rally began. A layup from James Richards III and a three-point basket from Sanders sliced the deficit to five, 66-61. Gordon then delivered a layup to put Northwest within one and Prater's made free throws allowed Northwest to take a 67-66 lead.

Though the Bobcats failed to retake the lead, Jones made things interesting down the stretch, as Ashton Campbell hit a layup with 13 seconds to go, pulling the opponents within a point.

Gordon then made one of his two free throws on the other end with 10 seconds left, before both teams traded turnovers to put the ball in the Bobcats' hands with three seconds left. Despite having the shot underneath the goal, Thompson chose to hit a game-winning three attempt, but the ball rattled around the rim and out, allowing Northwest to hold on.

Next up for Northwest will be a trip to Pearl River on Tuesday, April 6. A live broadcast will be available on prccmedia.com.