SENATOBIA – After an early back and forth battle, the Northwest Mississippi Community College men's basketball team (3-2) couldn't keep up with the Coahoma Community College Tigers (4-0) falling 95-81 on Thursday night at Howard Coliseum.
The game was very much a back-and-forth battle in the opening half, with the Rangers bringing their typical run-and-shoot offense which kept them close after the Tigers opened up the game with a 7-1 run.
Northwest kept within two possessions of Coahoma and on a 6-0 burst of their own took their first lead of the game with just under eight minutes to go at 26-24, growing the lead to as much as four points.
The two sides would trade leads five times over the next two minutes until the Tigers strung several three's together to go up 37-32 and other than a pair of quick ties at 37 and 44, they would keep the lead for the remainder of the half, closing it emphatically on an 8-0 run over the final minute to take a 52-44 lead into the locker rooms.
The lead hit double figures out of the gate in the second half, but Northwest wouldn't go away, going on several small runs to close to several possessions but every time it seemed like the Coahoma offense would come up with a key basket to trigger a run of their own to maintain the double-digit lead.
With five minutes to go, the Rangers hit their high-water mark in closing it to just five points but a pair of key makes would push the lead back to ten at 81-71 and Northwest wouldn't get it back to any closer than nine points the rest of the way out. The lead would swell to as much as 16 on the way to 95-81 win as Northwest dropped their first game on the home court this season.
Northwest struggled from the field in the second half, only shooting 31.6 percent from the field compared to a Tigers roster that shot over 50 percent over the course of the game. It was a particularly tough night from beyond the three-point line where the Rangers finished the night at just 7-34 from beyond the arc.
The Rangers also struggled with turnovers, tallying 19 as a team and for the first time this season were on the wrong side of the turnover battle, only forcing 16 from Coahoma.
"I thought the guys kept fighting to the end," Head Coach John Redman said. "Ten points, it's a tossup. We can't turn the ball over 19 times, and we have to get better at that, we aren't going to beat anybody shooting just 20 percent from three and it was the first time we lost the turnover battle. But it's like I told the guys, we aren't going to solve it now, so let's watch the film and try to get better from it."
On the positive side, the Rangers did see another balanced night with scoring as they were still able to spread the offense around and saw three in double-digits, led by Dakota Morris for the second straight game as the sophomore picked up 17 points. Demetrius Duffy added 16 and was one rebound shy of a double-double and the trio was joined by Josiah Nelson who had his first double digit night scoring the ball with 10 points on 4-6 shooting.
The Rangers will have some time to rest before taking to the court again as their next two games were rescheduled. The next game will be on the night of the 18th against Arkansas State University – Mid-South in the second leg of a home and home with the Greyhounds. Northwest dropped the opening leg with them in a narrow 103-98 loss in West Memphis on the opening weekend of the season.
Redman said they will need to be ready for a tough contest against a team that has some talented players.
"They have a really good guard, and we have to be ready for him, but we will be ready to play on Tuesday," he said.
The Rangers other game that was moved was a home game with Mississippi Delta Community College which was moved to December 6th at 4:00 PM.
You can keep up with the full schedule for the Northwest men's basketball team by visiting nwccrangers.com or you can follow along with Ranger news and information on social media.
