By David Boyce, Northwest Athletics
TAHLEQUAH, Okla. – As postseason draws closer, Northwest Missouri State’s 73-66 victory over Northeastern State Saturday evening at NSU Event Center was the perfect-style game for the Bearcats.
With the MIAA conference title now locked up, Northwest needs games in which execution on both ends of the floor is vital. Blowouts are rare in the NCAA Division II tournament.
Northwest looked like it was on the way to a blowout when it held a 15-point lead midway through the first half. But Northeastern State fought back and created a tense atmosphere in the second half.
But en route to their ninth straight victory, the Bearcats never trailed in the second half and that was because they made plays when they absolutely needed them. Northwest improved to 19-5 overall and 16-3 in the MIAA. It is the third straight conference title for the Bearcats.
“It shows the toughness of our kids,” said Northwest coach Ben McCollum said. “It also shows in a 14-team league with the quality of coaches and quality of players, these kids can maintain that consistency and be able to come out with wins.
“In basketball, the ball doesn’t always bounce your way. You have off nights. You may have injuries and things happen, but you have to be able to adapt to those things and continue to win and continue with the process. The kids did that and it shows what kind of kids we have and the kind of assistant coaches we have in this program.”
Northwest wraps up the regular season with their final three games at Bearcat Arena, starting at 3:30 p.m. on Feb. 20 against rival Missouri Western.
Northwest started the second half with a four-point lead and it quickly dropped to 42-40. For the rest of the half, the Bearcats never built a double-digit lead. They led 59-58 with just under 5 minutes left
The Bearcats responded with a corner three-pointer from junior Zach Schneider, who finished with 23 points, going six for 12 from three-point range. His trey gave Northwest a 62-58 lead with 4:14 left.
“We were struggling with their pressure and all five of them were on the other side of the floor and Conner Crooker made a great skip pass and hit me right at my spot and I let it fly,” Schneider said.
Northwest increased its lead to 67-60, but the RiverHawks had one more run left in them. They closed to 67-64. With 36 seconds left, sophomore Xavier Kurth stepped to the line.
Kurth, who has been battling injuries all season, missed his first free throw. He made the second free throw, making it a two-possession game. Northeastern State couldn’t overcome it.
“Words can’t explain how happy I am to be back, playing basketball again,” said Kurth, who finished with six points. “I was missing so much time. To contribute to a big win like this and help us win conference outright is huge.”
Sophomore Justin Pitts finished with 18 points and Crooker added 12 points.
“We were on our heels the whole second half. When a team gets on their heels and they are able to still not make mistakes and just score enough, it is good. To be able to withstand that for 20 minutes against overwhelming pressure and take us completely out of everything we are doing shows the level of toughness our kids have.”
Although Northwest led most of the first half and took a 42-38 lead into halftime, give credit to Northeastern State for keeping the game close.
The Bearcats were sailing along midway through the first half, hitting three-pointers like they were layups. When Crooker made his one three-pointer in the first half, it gave the Bearcats a 31-16 lead. During that blistering hot start, Zach Schneider made four three-pointers.
Northeastern State didn’t allow that barrage of three-pointers knock it off its game. Instead, the RiverHawks picked up their defensive intensity and became more aggressive on their full court pressure. It knocked Northwest off its offensive rhythm.
As shots started to fall more frequently for Northeastern State, it became clear Northwest wasn’t going to have an easy blowout win. The RiverHawks closed to 38-31 late in the first half on a three-pointer by Kilven Samuel.
It appeared Northwest would take a seven-point lead into halftime when Justin Pitts made a field goal with under 10 seconds left, making it 42-35. But at this point, Northeastern State was hot. The RiverHawks got a trey from Trey Mohair with 2 seconds remaining in the first half.
“It is going to be like this in postseason tournament so this was good reps for that,” Schneider said. “We did a good job of handling pressure, which we will see in postseason, too.”
— Northwest Athletics —