Rangers advance to Elite 8

Jorell Saterfield pumped in 23 points and four other RC stars added 10 or more on Wednesday and carried the Ranger College men's basketball team to an 87-75 victory over fourth-seeded John A. Logan College in the second round of the 2021 NJCAA Men's Division I National Basketball Championships in Hutchinson, Kansas.

With the victory, Ranger College improved to 21-4 for the season and, more importantly, advanced to the Elite 8 round for the second straight season. The Rangers, the 2019 national runner-up,  are scheduled to play rival South Plains on Thursday, starting at 6 p.m., for the right to advance to the NJCAA Final Four.

After John A. Logan had opened the game with a free throw on an administrative technical to take its' only lead, Ranger exploded offensively. The Rangers reeled off an impressive start as sophomore Mark Mayle pushed home several shots from within the paint to spearhead a 12-1 run.

John A. Logan never recovered.

Ranger continued to pour it on offensively. Saterfield scored 12 of his game-high total in the opening minutes and helped Ranger build a 17-point advantage midway through the first half.

Overall, Saterfield hit on 11 of his 15 shots from the floor and dished out a team-leading four assists.

The Volunteers, who had entered the contest at 18-5 overall, made a late run and pulled to within four, at 34-30.

Ranger went on a 5-0 run to end the half, however, and led 39-30 at the break.

The Rangers finished off the win with a 48-point effort in the second half.

Keisei Tominaga, who struggled to find his range from behind the three-point arc early, finished as RC's second-leading scorer with 16 points. He buried four of his three-point attempts, including two that helped spur the Rangers' second-half barrage.

Mayle, who netted eight points in the first half, added 12 points, while Peyton Rodgers-Schmidt and Nika Metskhvarishvili added 10 points and a team-high eight rebounds apiece. Trey Tennyson added eight points.