MARYVILLE, Mo. – The hottest team in the MIAA remains Northwest Missouri State. Needing a win to own at least a share of first place, the Bearcats scored an impressive 80-68 victory over Missouri Southern Wednesday evening at Bearcat Arena.
By avenging a loss to Southern on Jan. 21, the Bearcats improved to 18-5 overall and 11-4 in the MIAA. Southern dropped to 14-9 and 8-6. It was a dominating performance by Northwest, which has now won five in a row.
“We went back to the basics,” said Northwest senior Grant Cozad. “When we had those two tough losses in a row, we went back to what we were doing at the beginning of the season, just toughness and getting after it. I think that showed tonight. We just need to keep it rolling into next week against Lindenwood.”
The Bearcats took the lead midway through the first half and never trailed again. In fact, most of the second half Northwest led by double digits. Southern made the first bucket in the second half and closed to 45-36. The Bearcats scored next eight points for a commanding 53-38 lead.
“We executed offensively and defensively and we were getting everything we wanted,” said Northwest junior Conner Crooker.
But there was a lot of game left. Southern first-year coach Jeff Boschee, a former University of Kansas basketball star, has the Jayhawk pedigree. It didn’t matter to the Bearcats.
“I grew up watching Boschee, and I was a big fan,” Crooker said. “I didn’t think about it much, but it was a little weird.”
Plus, the Bearcats didn’t have to guard Boschee. He was on the bench coaching. He saw 5 minutes into the second half one of his player let frustration get the best of him. The player was whistled for two technicals and was thrown out of the game. Crooker made three of four free throws, giving Northwest a 60-38 lead.
“I am going to give the credit to Zach Schneider because he was frustrating him down there and staying straight up with him,” Cozad said. “I think Zach got a little emotional and started clapping.
“He was complaining about the calls all night. The refs had enough and kicked him out.”
Southern never really threatened the rest of the second half. The hot, three-point shooting of junior Blaine Miller allowed the Lions to close to 63-50.
The Bearcats, though, have several players who can also drain the three-pointer. On this occasion, it was Schneider who knocked down the trey that increased Northwest’s lead to 66-50.
Freshman point guard Justin Pitts followed with four straight free throws, giving the Bearcats a 70-50 lead with 7:01 left.
Once again, it was a team effort by the Bearcats. Crooker led Northwest with 16 points, senior Grant Cozad scored 14, Schneider had 13 and Pitts finished with 12
Northwest also received strong minutes from the bench. Freshman Brett Dougherty had nine points and four rebounds and sophomore Anthony Woods chipped in seven points.
In the first half, both teams shot the ball extremely well. The main reason Northwest went into halftime ahead 45-34 was because it had just three turnovers compared to nine for Southern.
Those extra meant Northwest took seven more shots and that made a difference. The Bearcats went 18 for 31 from the field for 58.1 percent. Southern was 14 for 24 from the field for 58.3 percent.
Through the first 10 minutes, the lead changed six times. The Bearcats scored four straight points to turn a 12-11 deficit into a 15-12 lead. Southern tied it at 21-21. The game remained close until the last four minutes when Northwest slowly gained some separation.
— David Boyce, Northwest Athletics —