SENATOBIA – Defense was on display for the Northwest Mississippi Community College men's basketball team (3-1) on the way to a 98-75 win over Arkansas State University – Newport as the Rangers forced the Aviators into 31 turnovers, including 18 in the first half as they remained perfect on the home court.
"It was important to keep the momentum going. We have to set the tone for the rest of the season as well," Sophomore Dakota Morris said.
It was a team effort where no Ranger played more than 18 minutes, and Head Coach John Redman said that is part of the expectation for his style of game.
"I played 14 guys tonight, and that's always going to help us. I play 14 guys almost every night, so we had nobody play over 20 minutes tonight. It's a big week for us and I'm excited to see where our guys are and see our guys play."
Northwest fell behind early in the game as it took some time for the pressure to get to the Newport starting five, but after trading leads for the opening five minutes, a three from Morris gave Northwest a 15-11 lead and sparked a 7-0 run that gave some separation to the two sides.
"We just came out with a lot of energy," Morris said. "We are at home, so we knew we had to come out with energy."
The lead grew to double figures late in the first half on a drive to the basket by Ladarrius Brown, who would be big for Northwest from the perimeter later on the in the game on his way to a season best 15 points and NWCC held that edge for the rest of the opening half despite the Aviators shooting 53 percent from the field.
After going into the half up 43-33, the Rangers survived the initial push from Newport, only allowing them to trim the gap to five before back-to-back threes from Peyton Lindley and Brown force a timeout from the Aviators and increased the lead to 56-44 for the largest margin of the game to that point.
Another three from Houston Cunningham started a second half burst with 13 minutes left in the game that Northwest used to pull away even more with a 16-point lead developing on their second 7-0 run of the game and it essentially iced the game early for the Rangers.
That didn't mean that Northwest pulled off of the gas pedal, keeping the pace up to build the lead to 20 with 7:14 remaining at 79-58 and getting it to a game high 25 points with just under two minutes to go, closing it out just shy of their third 100-point game of the year with a 98-75 win.
"A lot of fans might wonder why we are pressing up 20, but that's what we do. It's hard for me to tell guys who don't get as many minutes to not do that. That's who we are," Redman said.
The Rangers were paced in the game by a season best 21 points from Morris and along with Browns 15, the duo was joined by Demetrius Duffy with his first double-double of the season, accumulating 12 points and 11 rebounds.
"I feel like part of me and Demetrius being the anchors of the team, we have to be strong in order to win some games this year," Morris said.
As a team, Northwest had a big jump in the second half in shooting percentage, going from 37 percent in the first half to 51 percent, which was helped by a 10 percent jump in their three-point percentage, shooting 33 percent from deep for the game.
They also had a better game in the turnover category, although Redman said the 21 they had is still not the number he wants to see by the end of a game, especially with 14 steals. That was countered by the 22 offensive rebounds and 19 assists the Rangers piled up in the game.
"We can't turn it over 21 times. I don't care who you are playing, that isn't going to win, but when you get 22 offensive rebounds, that's pretty good. And that is something we talk about every day," Redman said.
Up next for the Rangers is another home game as they get their first taste of what the MACCC might be like in a non-conference game with Coahoma Community College with the Tigers entering the game at 3-0 on the season. Tipoff is scheduled for 6:00 PM from Howard Coliseum. The game will be streamed at nwccrangers.com/watch.
Keep up with Northwest men's basketball and all Ranger athletics by following along on social media or by visiting nwccrangers.com.
