MARYVILLE, Mo. – In front of a boisterous student section at Bearcat Arena Wednesday evening, the Northwest Missouri State men’s basketball team delivered an impressive gut-check 77-73 overtime victory over Southwest Baptist.

“It feels pretty good afterwards, but it was pretty tiring,” said senior Matt Wallace, who for the third straight game scored a career-high in points, finishing with 19.

“It was big for us, going down the stretch, getting down two and everybody wondering if we can do it. But we came back and won it. We will have that in the back of our heads for the rest of the season.”

Sure, the Bearcats blowout wins at Central Oklahoma, at Northeastern State and at home against Nebraska-Kearney were works of art. But it is easy to look good when the ball is dropping.

What the Bearcats pulled off Wednesday was probably more meaningful.

“This game can benefit us a lot more because those games you are not improving much and you are on a feel-good,” Wallace said. “You are not going to have a feel-good during tourney time. You usually are not playing your greatest and shots are not going down so you got to be able to grind out and get the win like we did tonight.”

Against Southwest Baptist, the Bearcats held a five-point lead with only 35 seconds left. It appeared Wallace sealed the victory when he stole the ball and raced down the court for a layup, which put the Bearcats up 64-59.

“I honestly was thinking we were kind of set,” Wallace said. “But that was dumb of me to do.”

Southwest Baptist responded by scoring the final five points in regulation, all coming on the hot hand of senior Menas Stephens.

Overtime, though, was not foreign territory for the Bearcats. They pulled out a 74-66 overtime win against Fort Hays State on Dec. 20 at Bearcat Arena.

The big difference this time was Northwest immediately fell behind Southwest Baptist in overtime. Against Fort Hays State, the Bearcats quickly jumped to a lead in overtime.

Southwest Baptist held a 69-67 lead when freshman Justin Pitts drove for a layup. Southwest Baptist went back in front 70-69 with 1:10 left on free throw by Stephens.

Northwest battled back and grabbed the lead with 57 seconds left on a three-pointer by sophomore Zach Schneider. The lead grew to 74-70 on two free throws by Pitts with 36 seconds left.

This time, the Bearcats didn’t allow Southwest Baptist to tie, but it wasn’t easy. A three-pointer by David Gabrovsek with 22 seconds left allowed Southwest Baptist to close to one at 74-73.

Three seconds later, junior Conner Crooker made both free throws, pushing Northwest’s lead back to three.

Those four straight free throws were key in the Bearcats securing the win. If Northwest were better at the line during regulation, the game probably wouldn’t have went to overtime. For the game, Northwest went 15 for 31 from the line for 48 percent, although in overtime the Bearcats were six for eight.

Northwest was also hurt on the boards. Southwest Baptist pulled down 20 more rebounds than the Bearcats.

Still, Northwest found a way to win. The Bearcats improved to 13-3 overall and 6-2 in the MIAA. Northwest hits the road for their next game, playing at Central Missouri on Saturday.

Picking up the 13th victory, though, was definitely tiring.

“We are getting used to it,” said Crooker, who finished with 27 points and a career-high nine rebounds. “The past few games have been a grind. This was a big one tonight. I don’t think I have been more tired in a game in my life.

“They were just fighting and getting after the o-boards. It was a tough, fought battle. It was good to come out with a win.”

Northwest led for all but a couple of possession in the first half, but the slim 30-29 lead at halftime signified just how close the game was the first 20 minutes.

Each time the Bearcats built a six-point lead, Southwest Baptist charged right back.

For the most part, Northwest only had two sources of offense in the first half. Matt Wallace scored 11 and Conner Crooker had 10.

The Bearcats shot an uncharacteristically low 41 percent from the field and was 4-for-12 from the free throw line for 33 percent.

— David Boyce, Northwest Athletics —