Jake Reinders had a career high 28 points and 12 rebounds for No. 24 Northwest Missouri State as they knocked off Southwest Baptist 78-55 in MIAA men’s basketball action Saturday afternoon at Bearcat Arena.

Northwest got its first double-double of the season from Reinders and holds onto first place in the league at 7-2 while moving to 13-2 overall. SBU saw its four-game winning streak snapped and fell to 10-8 overall and 3-6 in conference play.

Consistency from Reinders all season long has propelled Northwest to the top of the MIAA standings and sets-up the Bearcats second battle on the season for league supremacy Wednesday at No. 23 Missouri Southern. Reinders pulled in 10 of his career high 12 rebounds on the defensive end of the floor, limiting SBU’s second chance points.

After five lead changes and seven ties, Bryston Williams drove to the hole and completed an and-one putting Northwest up 43-41 with 13:27 left in the game. The Bearcats would never look back from that point.

With 12:42 left in the second half Bryston Williams knocked the ball from SBU’s Preston Guiot and dished to Alex Sullivan for his second three-pointer of the day extending Northwest’s lead to 50-44. From there Northwest would go on a 9-2 run extending its lead to double digits.

Sullivan scored a season high 10 points off the bench for Northwest in the win as they also outscored SBU 19-6 in bench points.

Northwest forced 20 SBU turnovers earning 27 points off the purple Bearcats’ miscues as SBU only scored eight times off Northwest’s 17 turnovers.

DeShaun Cooper returned from an injury suffered in Wednesday’s loss at Central Missouri to score 15 points including 7-of-8 from the free throw line.

Robson Memnon led SBU with 17 points and five rebounds.

Northwest begins a three-game road swing Wednesday at No. 23 Missouri Southern in a battle for the top spot in the MIAA. Game time from Joplin is slated for 7:30 p.m.

— NWMSU Sports Information —