Rangers punch ticket to national tourney as Southwest District Champs

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reposted from Ranger sports information with update

As he stepped off the bus and made his way into the Dorothy Garrett Coliseum on Saturday afternoon, Ranger College sophomore Jorell Saterfield flashed a smile and promised everyone it was time to make history.

And he was right.

Ranger College nailed down its third consecutive trip to the NJCAA Division I national tournament by pounding out a convincing 90-65 victory over Western Texas College in front of a small crowd on the campus of Howard College in Big Spring. The win, which made Ranger only the second Northern Texas Junior College Athletic Conference team to win the Region V tournament since 2014, advances the Rangers to Hutchinson, Kansas, on April 19-24.

Ranger received the No. 13 seed and will play on Monday, April 19 at 6:30 CDT against No. 20 seed Cochise College (AZ) (11-2), the West District Champion. The winner gets #4 seed John A. Logan College (IL) on Wednesday, April 21 at Noon.

This will be the 5th appearance for the Rangers at the National Tournament.

“We came here to make history,” said Saterfield after the game. “Now, we’re going to Hutch with the same goal.”

With the victory, Ranger College improved to 19-4 for the season and, more importantly, will get a chance to battle for the national title that narrowly eluded them in 2019. The Rangers finished second to Vincennes University two seasons ago in a game that was nationally televised by CBSSN. Last season’s attempt to win the championship was scrubbed when the tournament was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Rangers made sure Western Texas didn’t throw a wrench into the plans with a stifling attack on both ends of the court. Led by Peyton Rodgers-Schmidt, Mark Mayle, Kenyuoe Ondaan and Nika Metskhvarishvili, the RC defense hurried and heckled the Westerners’ offense throughout the affair. Ranger’s big men blocked four shots and forced Western Texas into 16 turnovers. As a team, WTC shot just 32 percent from the floor.

Offensively, the Westerners were unable to contain the Rangers’ four-headed scoring monster of Keisei Tominaga, Rodgers-Schmidt, Saterfield and Trey Tennyson. The four combined to score 79 of the Rangers’ 90 points.

Tominaga gave RC a boost early. He knocked down four of his seven three-pointers in the first 20 minutes and led the Rangers to a 44-31 halftime cushion. Overall, Tominaga scored 17 of his game-high 31 points in the first half. He also dished out a team-high six assists.

Rodgers-Schmidt and Tennyson added nine apiece in the opening half.

Tennyson highlighted a dominating effort by the RC bench players. As a group, Rangers’ non-starters outscored Western Texas’ bench by a staggering 23-2 clip.

Tennyson finished the game with 18 points and six rebounds.

Rodgers-Schmidt, who was forced to play extended minutes due to foul trouble by Metskhvarishvili and Mayle, led RC in rebounding with seven boards. Offensively, the Chippewa Falls, Wisc., native tossed in 17 points.

Metskhvarishvili tallied six rebounds.

Saterfield finished as the Rangers’ fourth double-digit scorer by throwing in 12 points.

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