By David Boyce
MARYVILLE, Mo. – Northwest Missouri State’s men’s basketball team gave a near-capacity crowd of 2,297 at Bearcat Arena a performance Thursday evening that emphatically showed why its ranked No. 6 in Division II.
The Bearcats beat No. 18 Augustana, the defending national champions, 82-71 and gained a bit of revenge from last season. A year ago, Augustana beat Northwest by two points in Sioux Falls in a mid-November game and later ended the Bearcats’ season with another two-point win in the Central Regional championship game in Sioux Falls.
“This was great, what I have been waiting for the whole year,” said junior Chris-Ebou Ndow, who finished with 16 points. “This was the team that beat us out. We had the whole summer to think about it.”
Right away, Northwest, 3-0, made sure it wasn’t going to lose another heartbreaker. The Bearcats bolted to a 24-point halftime lead.
“It felt good to finally play on our home court and playing Augustana,” said junior guard Justin Pitts, who finished with 24 points and six assists. “We focused on coming out strong and executing the scouting report and doing all the things right.
“We knew Augustana was going to make a run back because they are a great team. We just had to tough it out.”
Augustana has too much pride to get blown off the court. The Vikings scored the first 11 points to start the second half and closed to 45-32. Ndow ended the run with a three-pointer.
“That was just what we needed,” Ndow said. “They were starting to catch up. We didn’t come out with the energy we wanted in the second half. It was good we made a few shots and stopped the bleeding.”
After that brief scare, it was back to showtime Bearcats with Pitts orchestrating the entertaining offense.
One play that brought Northwest football players Jack Young and Edward Richey out of their courtside seats was when Anthony Woods went in for a spinning layup that gave Northwest a 60-42 lead with 11:17 remaining in the game.
Young and Richey were one of many student-athletes from all the sports who showed up and cheered loudly for the Bearcats. In fact, it looked like over half the Northwest student population was inside Bearcat Arena rooting for their school.
“I particularly noticed Jack Young,” Pitts said. “Jack is crazy. He is hilarious.”
In addition, recent former players were in the stands as were several parents of former players, proving the point: Once A Bearcat Always A Bearcat or OABAAB.
One longtime professor at Northwest said he couldn’t remember a bigger crowd for a November non-conference game.
“This was great,” Ndow said. “This was the kind of atmosphere you see at the end of the season. To have the first home game of the season have that many people was great. We love the support of our fans.”
The fans had plenty to cheer, especially when the Bearcats created a little drama when Augustana closed to 72-62 with just over 3 minutes remaining.
Northwest responded with a three-pointer from senior Zach Schneider making it 75-62. A little later, Pitts essentially put the game away with a three-pointer that increased the lead to 80-64 with 1:47 left.
Augustana closed to 81-71, but only 40 seconds remained in the game. The only negative for Northwest came in the final minute when the Bearcats missed a few free throws. But it didn’t matter. Northwest maintained a double-digit lead throughout the second half.
“We knew they would make a run coming out of half,” Northwest coach Ben McCollum said. “I knew they would make it, but I didn’t want them to make it because of our lack of effort. I thought it was some of our lack of effort and some of the adjustments they made at halftime. It was a little bit of both.
“We have enough experience to withstand it, but we want to make sure we build our leads.”
Northwest played close to perfect in taking a 45-21 lead into halftime. The Bearcats played suffocating defense. They made three-pointers and fed off the energy provided by the fans.
“We were really locked in and really into it, just in sync with each other,” McCollum said. “We can play at a high level when we are like that. We have to make sure we do that all the time.”
It started well for Northwest and only got better. The first basket came from junior forward Brett Dougherty. Woods added a free throw several seconds later for a quick 3-0 lead.
After Augustana scored, Pitts drilled a three-pointer and that signified he was on his game.
Because Augustana was also playing solid defense, the Vikings stayed close. They trailed only 8-7 when the Bearcats exploded offensively. It started with the return of Ndow, who missed the first couple of games due to sickness that caused him to lose 10 pounds.
Ndow immediately looked hungry for points. He put the Bearcats up four on a three-pointer and after a stop, Ndow slammed home a dunk, giving Northwest a 13-7 lead. He followed that with two free throws.
“It felt great,” Ndow said. “I felt it came at the right time, kind of when the team needed it. Just being out there again felt great.”
Northwest’s lead ballooned to 20-7 on a three-pointer on a corner three-pointer by junior Xavier Kurth.
The Pitts shooting show came with a little over 3 minutes left in the first half. The shot clock was winding down. He was closely guarded near NBA three-point range. It didn’t matter. He lofted a high-arching three-pointer that softly fell through the nets, making it 35-19. He followed it with an even longer three-pointer that made it 38-19.
Freshman Ryan Welty joined the three-point spree with a trey, giving Northwest a 41-19 lead. Against a high-quality opponent, Northwest couldn’t have performed any better. The Bearcats shot 63 percent from the field, including eight for 13 from three-point range for 61.5 percent. Northwest also held Augustana to 34.6 percent from the field.
— Northwest Athletics —