ALVA, Okla. – The first road trip of the 2013-14 regular season for the Rogers State men's basketball team didn't result in the first road victory as the Hillcats were unable to overcome a poor shooting performance falling 50-42 to Northwestern Oklahoma State Monday inside Percefull Fieldhouse.
The Hillcats built an early 5-0 lead but the hometown Rangers followed with a 10-2 run of its own to lead by three just over four minutes into the game. The two squads were tied a total for five times in the opening stanza as scoring came at a premium with RSU leading 24-23 at the half.
The second half was similar to the first as the teams see-sawed the lead with the largest lead for the Hillcats coming with 14:41 on a Jon Bond jumper putting RSU ahead 30-25. NWOSU would slowly chip away at the Cat lead over the next seven minutes of action drawing a 39-39 tie, the eighth tie of the evening.
From that mark the Rangers would take control for the final 7:32 as the Hillcats would hold the led just once coming at the 6:34 mark. Northwestern Oklahoma State (1-0) closed out the final stretch outscoring the Hillcats 11-2.
The Rangers shot 35.3 percent including 30 percent from 3-point range while knocking down just 8-of-20 from the charity stripe. RSU was more efficient on free throws knocking down 52.4 percent but the Hillcats connected at a 10 percent pace from long distance and just 33.3 percent from the field.
Two Rangers scored in double figures including Bruce Wright who recorded a double-double with 11 points and 11 rebounds for NWOSU. Damien Hooks was the lone Hillcat to register double-digit scoring with 10 points. RSU outrebounded the Rangers 38-35 led by senior guard Robinson Odoch Opong with 10 boards.
Rogers State (1-0) will return to action Friday, Nov. 15 inside the Stubblefield Center on the campus of UA Fort Smith for the UAFS Lions Classic as the Hillcats face Henderson State in a 5 p.m. tip. Live play-by-play action will only be carried on the Hillcat Network at www.rsuhillcats.com/live.
