SENATOBIA – The Northwest Mississippi Community College men's basketball team (15-10, 4-6) gritted out a tough win on Thursday night over Hinds Community College (14-13, 4-7), taking down the Bulldogs 98-97 thanks to some gritty play inside and clutch free throws at the end.
"My guys really at the end of the night fought," Head Coach John Redman said. "We got beat by 25 or 30 points at Southwest the other night on the road and for the guys to flip it, change their mindset and come into practice the other day and win a tough game at home, it shows you the kind of guys we have."
Both sides traded leads in the opening stanza, going into the opening media timeout with the Bulldogs leading 16-14 after having as large as a 14-9 advantage. Hinds would grow the lead to 23-16 for what would be their largest lead of the first half but Ladarius Brown, who led the Rangers in scoring in the opening half with 16 points, hit one of his four first half threes to start a NWCC run.
Northwest would eventually rally back to tie the game at 37 with four minutes to go in the first half before taking their first lead since it was 5-4 on another Brown three pointer from the left wing to go up 40-37.
Hinds would rally to tie it at 40 and 42 but the Rangers closed on a 7-2 run of their own to take a 55-49 lead into the half.
The game was a dead heat for much of the second half. While Northwest couldn't be jostled from the lead, Hinds never really was put away, keeping it a two to three possession game for much of the half.
With ten minutes remaining, Hinds did take a brief lead after closing the gap to go up 73-72, but the Rangers would recapture the advantage. Ties did follow again at 83, 85, and 93 as both sides grinded for the advantage.
The game would be decided at the foul line late in this one, and the Rangers had just a bit better night, going 16-21 in the second half from the stripe compared to 6-12 from the line for the Bulldogs. This was after Hinds had gone 14-18 from the line in the first half.
Northwest would earn a final possession with a chance to take the lead with the game tied at 97 after Brown had tied the game at the line with a pair of free throw makes. Chancellor Terry earned a second trip to the line as he was fouled with seven seconds left.
That has been a typical sight to see from the Rangers and guards attacking into the post is something that Redman preaches in practice.
"We talk about and work on it every day," he said. "We call it perimeter posts. I think it is the next evolution of the game, if you watch the guys in the NBA or high division NCAA, they all do that. I'm really happy we are starting to see that more and more."
After making one of two to put Northwest up 98-97, the Rangers would hold on after a drive to the hoop was left short by Hinds on the returning possession and NWCC picked up their fourth conference win of the season.
The Rangers saw three players reach double figures, led by Terry, who finished with 24 points, scoring 22 of them in the second half. Brown added 21 and Zahir Gutierrez was a steady presence with his driving game and finished with 20.
Both Terry and Gutierrez finished a combined 13-14 from the foul line as the team would finish 20-28 in the game.
The Rangers didn't have their best game rebounding, only picking up 30 rebounds in the game compared to 42 for the Bulldogs, but Northwest countered by shooting 56 percent for the game and a blistering 58 percent from three in the opening half.
Terry led the team in assists with four with Josiah Nelson added another three. LaMarcus Crawford was the leading rebounder with seven to go with his eight points.
Northwest has just a short turnaround before they are back in action with a road trip to Copiah-Lincoln Community College (13-10, 6-4) on Saturday afternoon where they will face off with the Wolves at 3:00 PM after the women's game.
The Rangers are sitting in the bottom half of the conference standings, and every game of the home stretch is important. For Redman, it comes down to focusing on playing their game to earn their spot in the postseason field.
"At the end of the day you have to win," he said. "We just have to keep playing well. Just do what we do best and see if guys can match that."
You can find more information on the Rangers schedule and upcoming games by visiting nwccrangers.com or by following along with Northwest social media accounts.
