By David Boyce, Northwest Athletics
MARYVILLE, Mo. – In its first home conference game of the season, the Northwest Missouri State men’s basketball team treated 1,034 fans at Bearcat Arena to stellar defense and beautiful team basketball.
The potent combination lifted Northwest to a rather easy 73-48 victory over Pittsburg State Sunday afternoon. The Bearcats raised their record to 6-2 overall and 4-0 in the MIAA.
“It felt good to finally have the home crowd cheering for us and get us going,” said junior guard Anthony Woods, who finished with 14 points. “They always keep us going with cheering and everything. They build us up.”
Throughout much of the second half, Northwest maintained a seven-to-13 point lead because of its defense. Whenever the Bearcats hit a lull offensively, their defense took over, preventing Pitt State from making a run.
“It all starts in practice,” said Northwest sophomore guard Justin Pitts, who finished with a game-high 19 points. “We knew coming in they were going to be pretty good driving the ball. We worked every day in practice on the drives. We came out and played hard and executed the scouting report.”
The offense, though, didn’t have many dry spells because the Bearcats continued to look for each other for open baskets. One example occurred midway through the second half. Woods drove inside and then found Conner Crooker wide open on the wing. Crooker drilled the three-pointer to increase Northwest’s lead to 43-30.
“If you have drivers and the shooters that we have, no one is going to stop you,” Woods said. “We have to keep being aggressive and working hard in practice.”
It all comes down to trust. With about 7 minutes left, Woods once again drove the ball into the paint and then kicked it out to Zach Schneider. At this point, Schneider was scoreless. It didn’t matter. Woods knew Schneider was going to make the shot. Woods raised his arms in the air to indicate a three-pointer while the ball was still in the air.
Schneider’s swished the ball through the nets, putting Northwest up 58-43. A minute later, point guard Justin Pitts slipped an inside pass to Woods for a layup, making it 62-43.
“It was a momentum changer,” Woods said of Schneider’s trey. “Once Zach gets going or Pitts or Conner, it is really hard to stop them. Once we drive and everybody collapse and they are wide open, we look for them every time.”
Defensively, the Bearcats played old-fashion, blue-collar basketball. They symbolically put on their hard hats and go to work.
And the work the Bearcats did on the offensive end was a thing of beauty. The cuts to the basket followed by a perfect pass that ended with a layup or a wide-open jump shot made the Gorillas look like they were lost in the jungle.
It was basically the same formula in the first half. Defense and a scoring by Pitts gave Northwest a 28-20 lead at halftime. Throughout the first half, the Bearcats made it extremely difficult for Pitt State to get an easy basket.
The aggressive defense by Northwest limited the Gorillas to only eight field goals. In a 4-minute stretch, Pitts had half that many baskets. Each time, Pitts drove into the paint and hit a soft, 5-foot runner. Those eight points by Pitts helped Northwest expand its lead from 11-8 to 19-12.
The Gorillas never mounted a serious run the rest of the game.
— Northwest Athletics —