By David Boyce, Northwest Athletics

BOLIVAR, Mo. – The surgical way the Northwest Missouri State men’s basketball team sliced up Southwest Baptist in the second half was so precise that it was doubtful the purple Bearcats actually felt pain.

One minute Baptist held a three-point lead on its home court at the start of the second half and several minutes later, it was staring at a10-point deficit.

The passing by the green Bearcats throughout the second half was simply beautiful and a big reason why they came away with a 73-50 victory Thursday evening at Meyer Sports Center.

“We did everything right in the first half. It was just they were hitting shots,” said Northwest senior Conner Crooker. “Things weren’t going our way. In the second half, we got off to a hot start and we were getting those 50/50 balls. We did everything we did in the first half, but just a little harder.”

A three-pointer by Crooker at the start of the second half pulled Northwest into its first tie at 29-29.

Junior Zach Schneider rained in another three-pointer with 18:06 left in the game that gave Northwest its first lead at 32-29.

The play that proved the Bearcats were clicking at a high level as a team occurred 2 minutes later when Crooker drove into the paint and then slipped a pass to junior D’Vante Mosby, who converted the layup, putting Northwest ahead 36-31.

“It was big,” Mosby said of Crooker’s pass. “Like Conner said, the fact they were helping so high on our guards, it opened some things up for other players. It was good that we can pass the ball and work it around as a team and not rely on one thing.”

Northwest didn’t let up. At the 12:06 mark, Crooker had another nice pass that setup sophomore center Brett Dougherty for a layup, pushing the Bearcats lead to 46-34 and causing Baptist to call timeout.

“The first half we were a little tentative to go inside,” Crooker said. “In the second half, we knew the lane was open.”

There was nothing spectacular in Northwest’s 20-5 run to start the second half. It was simply sound, team basketball on both ends of the floor.

“The great start in the second half was key to get our confidence up,” Crooker said. “Coach always says to step on their throats after you are up and don’t let up and that is what we did.”

Northwest did exactly that the final 10 minutes. Every player that stepped on the court contributed to the victory. Sophomore Justin Pitts lead Northwest with 16 points followed by 15 from Crooker, 12 from Schneider and 10 from Mosby.

Northwest shot a blistering 61 percent from the field in the second half, making 17 of 28 shots and held Baptist to 23 percent. Baptist made just six field goals in the second half.

It was a great way for Northwest to open play in the MIAA. The Bearcats are 3-2 overall and 1-0 in conference.

“We will take these conference wins anyway we can get them,” Mosby said. “Coach Mac (Ben McCollum) puts a big emphasis on it. It was definitely a big-time win and we want to keep it going.”

A missed three-pointer at the halftime buzzer kept Northwest from tying the game. Still it was a good effort by the Bearcats to go into halftime down only 29-26.

Northwest started slow and it never found its stroke from outside, making 4 of 15 three-point attempts. Northwest was also nearly as bad from the free throw line, going 4 for 11.

Despite a 14-5 deficit and poor shooting from behind the arc and at the charity strip, Northwest closed to 27-26 late in the first half.

Looking at the statistics it was amazing Northwest stayed so close. Baptist pulled down seven more rebounds. Baptist show 48 percent from the field compared to 33 percent for Northwest.

The only area Northwest excelled at was turnovers. Northwest had only four compared to nine for Baptist.