By David Boyce
WARRENSBURG, Mo. – The stage was set for No. 1-ranked Northwest Missouri State to suffer its first loss of the season Thursday evening against the University of Central Missouri.
The Multipurpose Building was rocking in what was deemed a red out. Red towels were handed out to Central Missouri fans.
Northwest, though, never gave nearly 4,100 fans an opportunity to wave the red hankie. Of course, several hundred fans were in Bearcat green and weren’t looking to defect to Central Missouri
The Mules had a few moments in the first half but never tasted a lead. After taking a six-point lead into halftime, Northwest played near flawless basketball in the second half and beat their rival 67-54 to improve to 15-0 overall and 7-0 in the MIAA.
“This means a lot,” said Northwest junior Chris-Ebou Ndow, who finished with 10 points and 11 rebounds. “We had a stretch where we won games pretty easily. Going down the stretch like this is really going to help. We are going to face some teams that we really have to grind it out. This was one of them.”
Northwest has now 19 straight MIAA regular season games, dating back to last year. The Bearcats tied an MIAA record that was established in 1931 by Northwest, coached by legendary Henry Iba.
“That is big time,” Northwest coach Ben McCollum said. “In this league, with all the good coaches and all the good teams that have been in here, to be able to able to accomplish something like that is an honor. I don’t think people understand how difficult it is to do that and how difficult to be ready night in and night out in this league.”
Early in the second half, Northwest punished the Mules’ zone defense. A three-pointer to start the second half by senior Zach Schneider gave Northwest a 33-24 lead.
“It was huge just to get the team going and get myself going,” said Schneider, who went 3-for-6 from behind the arc. “I have been struggling the last couple of games. I knew coming in I was going to get some looks. I was pretty confident that I was going to knock them down. That got me going for my next two shots.”
A few minutes later, a three-pointer from freshman Ryan Welty increased Northwest’s lead to 41-31.
But the definitive moment in the game came when Northwest held a 41-33 lead. It started with a three-point play by junior forward Brett Dougherty. It was followed by a three-pointer from Justin Pitts and then another three-pointer from Pitts, making it 50-33. Ndow added to the 11-0 run with a two-point field goal, making 52-33.
“We lick our lips,” Schneider said of facing a zone defense. “We know we are going to get great shots. It kind of threw us for a loop in the first half. We made some adjustments to get it more inside the zone. After that, it was really open. We have so many great shooters. They had to get out of it. They eventually went back to man.”
Comfortably ahead, Northwest showed its unselfish play when it made two quick passes that led to an easy, reverse layup from senior D’Vante Mosby, which gave the Bearcats a 61-44 lead.
Central Missouri didn’t give up. The Mules closed to 63-54 with 3:09 left. Northwest still needed to make a few more plays to secure a win. One came when Pitts made a drive, stopped and flipped in a high-arching, 5-foot tear drop with 2:40 left that gave Northwest an 11-point lead. It was a shot that probably brought tears to the Central Missouri faithful.
Thirty seconds later, Pitts drove for another layup, increasing the lead for Northwest to 67-54.
“I don’t think we played overly well offensively, in the first half, but we withstood that,” McCollum said. “We weren’t totally ready to go. It wasn’t like we were bad when we started, but our concentration wasn’t at the level it had been.
“In the second half, we clicked a little bit better. But credit Central. I thought they did a good job defending us. I thought they had a good game plan.”
From the opening tip, it was obvious the first half was going to be a gritty, defensive battle. Northwest went into its methodical, offensive mode and walked into the locker room at halftime with a 30-24 lead.
Northwest scored the first seven points and never trailed in the first half, but the Bearcats worked hard to stay ahead.
After giving up the first seven points, Central Missouri fought back, closing to 14-11. Northwest responded with two free throws from Anthony Woods. It was a good sign. Woods missed the last three games with an injury.
Leading 16-11, Northwest received some of that Pitts magic. He nailed a three-pointer, giving the Bearcats an eight-point advantage. Northwest eventually increased its lead to 27-16.
An energetic Central Missouri crowd made sure the Mules weren’t going to get blown out of the Multipurpose Building in the first half. The Mules went on a 6-0 run and closed to 27-22.
The thing that makes Northwest so difficult for opposing teams is anybody can score. The Bearcats hit Central Missouri with a three-point dagger late in the first half from Welty to make it 30-22.
Northwest only shot 42 percent in the first half, making only eight field goals, but five of those field goals were three-pointers compared to one trey for the Mules.
“It was tough,” Ndow said. “Their fans were into it. They had a little run. It was tough to stop the bleeding. To go into half with a lead, considering how hard they were working, it was big.”
— Northwest Athletics —