By Brett Brown

For The Observer

On a night when sophomores were honored for playing their last home game in Howard Coliseum, Northwest Mississippi Community College guard Justin Gillard thrilled fans with a 33-point outburst to lead the Rangers to a 92-83 victory against the Coahoma Tigers on Feb. 11 in Senatobia.

Northwest, 12-10 overall, is in a four-way tie for third place in the MACJC north division with a 5-5 mark. The top four teams in the division advance to the MACJC State Tournament which begins Feb. 22 in Scooba.

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Gillard, of Oxford, connected on 14-of-22 attempts from the field and was five-of-10 from three-point range. He also grabbed a game-high 10 rebounds and blocked three shots. Gillard's 33-point performance was just shy of his career-high 34 points he registered as a freshman against Holmes.

Gillard has scored in double figures in 39 of 46 games during his career at Northwest, including 20-of-21 contests this season.

The Rangers jumped to 28-12 lead against Coahoma in the first eight minutes. Gillard drained a trio of three-pointers in that span and scored 15 of Northwest's first 28 points.

Ranger freshman guard Martrevious Sanders of Tunica of got in on the act by nailing back-to-back three-pointers in the final minutes of the half to give Northwest a 57-34 advantage at the break.

Coahoma made things interesting by opening the second stanza with a 28-13 run to trim its deficit to 70-62 with 9:17 left, but Gillard killed that rally with another three-pointer.

Sanders finished with 17 points for Northwest, while freshman guard Reggie Fondren of Memphis added 12 points, eight rebounds, four assists and four steals.

The Rangers close the regular season on Thursday, Feb. 18, by traveling to Goodman to battle Holmes.