The Northwest Missouri State University men’s basketball team beat Minnesota State, 59-56, on Saturday evening in the first round of the NCAA Tournament in Sioux Fall, South Dakota.

The Bearcats trailed by as many as 14 in the second half before rallying for the three point win.

This is the second straight year the Northwest and the Mavericks have met in the NCAA Tournament. Northwest beat Minnesota State last season in the second round in Mankato, Minn., 71-66.

Minnesota State’s Zach Monaghan hit a layup with four seconds left in the first half to put the Mavericks up by 14, 36-22. But alertly, Northwest inbounded the ball quickly and Justin Pitts launched a three-quarter court shot that hit the backboard and found the bottom of the net. The play was upheld on video review and Northwest went into the locker room down, 36-25.

Three minutes into the second half, Northwest found itself down, 41-27. But The Bearcats responded with a tough 15-4 run to cut the deficit all the way down to three, 45-42, with 10 minutes left to play. Matt Wallace had a couple of defensive stops and hit a couple of tough shots. Lyle Harris found room down the lane and hit two big layups, including an and one. Pitts capped the run with a layup after in the lane for his 24th point.

With 5:50 left in the game, Northwest tied the game, 51-51, on a Connor Crooker layup. The Mavericks took their final lead of the game with 5:07 left on a free throw, 53-51, before Lyle Harris hit a free throw, recorded a steal and hit a layup to put Northwest up by one, 54-53. After a layup from Pitts gave Northwest a 56-53 lead, MSU got a layup from Assem Marei with 38 seconds left. With 16 seconds left, Matt Wallace was called for his fifth foul, sending Monaghan to the line. After hitting the first to tie the game, Monaghan missed the second one. Northwest called a timeout and on the ensuing possession, Crooker drove to his left and hit a contested layup with two seconds left. Minnesota State threw the inbounds pass away and had to foul Harris, who hit one-of-two to give the Bearcats a 59-56 lead. As the buzzer sounded, the Mavericks lifted a three-quarter court shot, similar to Pitts’ halftime shot, but the ball hit the back board, fell to the rim and bounced away.

Pitts tied a career high with 29 points on 13-of-21 shooting. He was 3-of-7 from beyond the arc.  Lyle Harris scored 12 points off the bench and was 4-of-7 from the charity stripe, while Conner Crooker played all 40 minutes, scoring eight points on 4-of-9 shooting with a team-high six rebounds.

Northwest will play top-seeded and host Augustana Sunday in the NCAA Tournament second round at 7:30 p.m. inside the Sanford Pentagon at Sioux Falls.

— Northwest Sports Information —