Rangers to open title hunt with Apaches

The Ranger College men's basketball team will kick off the 2021 NJCAA national tournament with a new face – the Cochise College Apaches.

The defending national runner-up, Ranger College drew the No. 13 seed in the tournament and will begin its quest to return to the title game on Monday, April 19, when they face off against West District champion Cochise in the Hutchinson Sports Complex.

Ranger, which punched its ticket to the national tournament on Saturday with a win over Western Texas College in the finals of the Region V tournament, enters the week-long tournament as one of the nation's hottest teams. The Rangers, 19-4 overall, have won 15 of its last 16 outings.

Cochise, which defeated Arizona Western in the West District tournament title game, is 11-2 for the year.

The Apaches are led offensively by freshman forward Stephen Byard and guard Jonathan Garcia. Byard averaged 19 points and 7.2 rebounds per game. Garcia scored 13.2 points per contest. Sophomore forward Patrick Samoura also played well, scoring 8.2 points and grabbing nine rebounds per night.

Ranger is led by multiple scoring threats, including sophomore Jorell Saterfield, Keisei Tominaga and Nika Metskhvarishvili, as well as freshmen Tiras Morton, Trey Tennyson and Peyton Rogers-Schmidt.

The winner of the Ranger-Cochise matchup will advance to face No. 4 seed John A. Logan College in the second round.