SENATOBIA - Although Northwest held its own in a late night slugfest against Mississippi Delta on Monday evening, the Rangers missed a pair of game-tying free throws with one second left, falling 71-69 to the visiting Trojans.

Northwest had three players score in double figures and 39 points from its reserves, but Mississippi Delta was largely carried by the efforts of Davion Traylor, who netted 23 points and 17 rebounds. The Rangers fell to 6-10 on the season and 1-4 in the MACCC, while the Trojans improved to 9-9 overall and 2-3 in conference play.

Mississippi Delta opened the evening on a 10-0 run, which was finally broken up by Colain Brown's layup at the 15:26 mark of the first half. Brown's basket sparked a 7-0 response from Northwest, and the Rangers eventually pulled back within a 12-10 margin.

However, the Trojans once again pulled away from Northwest, building their lead back to a nine-point cushion, 19-10, with 7:36 remaining in the half. Yet again, the Rangers embarked on a run of their own and a emphatic dunk from LaMarcus Crawford tied the game at 23-23. Mississippi Delta responded twice over the final two minutes of the half, only to be met by a three-pointer from Keanu Patrick and a layup from Tyler Spears, sending NWCC to the locker room with a narrow 28-27 advantage.

D'Andre Dues opened the second half with a three-pointer to stretch the Rangers' lead to four, but the Trojans rallied back to tie the game at 33-33 just minutes later. Both teams would then trade jabs back and forth over the rest of regulation, but Mississippi Delta would be the leading team for most of the way.

Trailing by four with 2:39 left, a three-pointer from Tyler Spears helped bring Northwest back within a point, and the Rangers once again came back from three down to tie the game at 69-69 with a three-pointer from Tyler Shephard at the 35-second mark. Mississippi Delta burned the clock on its final possession and despite a missed layup from Andrew Mancell, the Trojans managed to grab the offensive rebound and a quick put-back from Traylor, giving MDCC the go-ahead basket.

With seven seconds left, Northwest called its final timeout and drew up a chance to tie the game. Although Brown was fouled with 1.6 seconds left, both free throws were missed and the Rangers were unable to get the rebound, sealing the close win for Mississippi Delta.

Northwest had one of its best overall shooting performances of the season, finishing with a 51 percent average from the floor, including a 63 percent shooting percentage in the second half. The Rangers were also 48 percent from three-point range, but just 44 percent from the free throw line.

In contrast, the Trojans shot 37 percent from the floor and 14 percent from beyond the arc, but finished 78 percent from the charity stripe. Another area that Mississippi Delta excelled in was in the paint, where Northwest was outscored 42-26. Additionally, the Rangers were outscored 20-6 in second chance points.

Shephard led Northwest with 18 points, followed by 12 from Dorian Booker and 10 from Patrick. Brown also added nine points for the Rangers, followed by six apiece from Crawford and Caleb Hunt.

Patrick also led Northwest in both rebounds (7) and blocks (3), while Hunt added six rebounds.

Aside from Traylor's double-double, Bralyn Mayfield finished with 15 points and six rebounds, followed by 10 from Mancell and eight from Jacorian Smith.

Next up for the Rangers is a road test at Northeast on Thursday, January 30. Despite falling from the NJCAA Division I rankings Monday afternoon, the Tigers are currently 19-2 overall and 3-2 in the MACCC.

Tipoff is scheduled for 7:30 P.M. at Bonner Arnold Coliseum, with live coverage available on nemcctv.com.