WEST MEMPHIS, AR – The opening weekend of the season ended with the Northwest Mississippi Community College men's basketball team (1-1) dropping their road test against Arkansas State Mid-South (1-1) in a fast paced 103-98 game to close the tournament that featured the Rangers shooting 41.4 percent from three and five players scoring in double figures against the Greyhounds.
"The guys played really hard tonight," Head Coach John Redman said. "Got to give credit to Arkansas Mid-South. They made some big plays and hit some big shots down the stretch."
The offense was in a great position early on, exploding to a double-digit lead after the opening five minutes, gaining a 20-9 lead with 14:40 to go and pushing it to as much as 14 just prior to the second media timeout.
The lead remained near double figures for much of the first half with several charges back by the Greyhounds being cut down by Northwest as they held them at arm's length. Mid-South did make some headway going into the half on their longest run of the game with a 7-1 run cutting the lead to 47-52 at the half.
Northwest immediately rebuilt the lead back to double figures to kick off the second half thanks to a 7-1 burst of their own, but untimely turnovers and some transition baskets by the Greyhounds changed the feel of the game as they had an 11-1 run bring the two teams to even at 64-64, eventually taking their first lead since the opening basket at 69-68.
It became a tense back-and-forth contest over the next set of possessions, with one tie and five lead changes until Mid-South took the lead for good at 73-72. Even then, the Rangers kept it tight, answering every run with a surge of their own and never trailing by more than eight at 88-80, and closing the score to a two-possession game several times.
Late threes kept the Rangers in it, hitting three in the final two minutes but the comeback never fully developed as Northwest fell 103-98 for their first loss of the season.
"I'm really proud of our guys fighting until the buzzer. Our guys showed no quit," Redman said. "I know we will bounce back and be ready for our home opener next Tuesday. Just like I tell the team all the time, we have to keep our heads up and keep going."
It was a balanced effort from the Rangers who had five of the thirteen players who entered the game score in double figures, including four of their starters. The team was led by 18 points from Chancellor Terry who was a steady 7-10 from the field and added four steals and three assists.
The trio of Dakota Morris, Harry Malone III, and Demetrius Duffy all scored 13 points, and Ladarrius Brown added another 12 from the bench.
Duffy led the Rangers in rebounding picking up nine of the teams 41 in the game and as a roster they had 17 assists, but turnovers were a problem in the game with 25 for Northwest, including 16 in the first half. Only 13 of those came on steals by the Greyhounds.
The Rangers will be back at home on Tuesday night when they take on the Dyersburg State Community College Eagles in a 7:30 game at Howard Coliseum. Action will be streamed on nwccrangers.com/watch with the broadcast beginning at the end of the women's game preceding it at 5:30 pm.
More information on the Northwest men's basketball schedule and season can be found at nwccrangers.com or by following Ranger social media accounts.
