MERIDIAN – The Northwest Mississippi Community College men's basketball team (13-8, 2-4) snapped a four-game skid on Monday night with a nearly wire-to-wire 99-93 win over Meridian Community College (9-16, 1-8) in their first road test since returning from their nearly two-week absence from the court due to ice.
"I'm really proud of our guy's effort on the road at Meridian," Head Coach John Redman said. Winning on the road is tough at every level and I am proud of our guys for staying focused, competing until the final buzzer, and finishing the game."
Northwest started out on the wrong foot, falling behind after scoring the opening basket as the Eagles went on an 15-7 run to take what would be their game high lead with just over 14 minutes to play in the first half.
Northwest answered with a quick stretch of six straight points, keyed by a Demetrius Duffy layup that would tie the game at 17 with 12:30 left in the half. The lead regrew to five, but the tetter totter flipped back to the Rangers as Grant Hutton took control, scoring the majority of his eleven first half points in the next 5 minutes in a pair of runs that gave NWCC their first lead since the opening basket at 25-22.
Meridian did battle back to take a lead one more time at 26-25 but a Hutton three returned the lead to Northwest and it wouldn't leave the Rangers for the rest of the game, blowing up to a 40-29 edge before going to the half with a 48-40 lead.
The home Eagles came out firing bullets in the second half as they tried to pull back the Rangers, closing the gap back to 59-57 after the opening six minutes of the final half, but the Rangers had the answer, rebuilding the lead to double figures and taking a game high lead of 15 points with an 84-69 score just past the 10 minute mark.
That would essentially ice the game, although a few more surges by Meridian would have to be stifled with the Eagles trimming it to a six-point game on several occasions but never really threatening the lead.
Chancellor Terry, who had an explosive second half with over 20 points in the final 20 minutes, finished with a team high 24, adding three rebounds and three assists. Duffy also added 18 off of the bench and finished with his tenth double-double of the season. The sophomore is nearly averaging a double-double at 15.1 ppg and 9.3 rpg.
"Chance had a huge second half on defense and offense, helping to seal the win and Meech got back to being a double-double machine last night. He is getting better and better for the Rangers," Redman said.
Also finishing with double figures were Lamarcus Crawford (13), Zahir Gutierrez (12), and Grant Hutton (11). Hutton was one rebound shy of his first collegiate double-double.
The Rangers finished with 19 assists as a team led by four from both Josiah Nelson and Tre Terrell. They also shot over 44 percent from the field. Defensively they force 21 turnovers and earned 35 trips to the foul line, going nearly 66 percent from the stripe.
"We forced 21 turnovers, which allowed us to turn our defense into offense and get out early in transition," Redman said. "Last night we had a lot of guys step up and contribute to the win. I am proud to be a Ranger!"
After a three-day break for their longest stretch of practices since January 22nd, the Rangers will be back at home on Thursday night when they host #19 Jones College at Howard Coliseum. The game tips off at 7:30 or at the conclusion of the women's game prior.
Keep up with any updates or changes to the Ranger schedule by visiting nwccrangers.com or by following Northwest social media accounts.
