By David Boyce

MARYVILLE, Mo. – The way the Northwest Missouri State men’s basketball team played the second half to beat Nebraska-Kearney 88-71 Thursday evening at Bearcat Arena deserves a double wow.

WOW! WOW!

The collective mettle coupled with spectacular and clutch shooting by Northwest in the final 20 minutes topped the Bearcats’ already high standard.

Nebraska-Kearney entered the game in second place in the MIAA and played with a desperation to stay within reach of Northwest.

The Bearcats, ranked No. 1 in the NABC top 25, once again showed why they remain the cream of the MIAA. The thrilling victory in front of a boisterous crowd of 1,979 lifted Northwest’s record to 17-0 overall and 9-0 in the conference.

“Being the No. 1 team, everybody is going to give you their best shot,” said junior guard Justin Pitts, who finished with a game-high 37 points on 14 of 22 shooting from the field. “They definitely brought it tonight.”

The things that Northwest did in the second half almost had to be seen to be believed. The Bearcats started the half with a one-point lead.

Four minutes later, Northwest held a 46-31 lead after scoring the first 14 points. It started with a basket by Justin Pitts and ended with a field goal by Xavier Kurth.

“We talked a lot about toughness,” said Northwest coach Ben McCollum about the halftime speech. “The first thing I said was we needed that first half. Somebody stood up to us, and we needed to see can you respond. Are you tough enough to respond? We kind of got bullied in the first half. I challenged to see are we tough enough.”

The Bearcats showed McCollum they are tough enough. But WOW No. 1 was enough to stave off Nebraska-Kearney.

Even though Northwest looked like it was in complete control, Nebraska-Kearney, which dropped to 12-5 overall and 5-3 in the MIAA, had other ideas. The Lopers started their comeback down 55-40. Two straight three-pointers quickly cut the deficit to nine.

With 9:02 left, Northwest held only a 55-51 lead. And this was when WOW No. 2 occurred. The Bearcats needed to make plays, and wow, they sure did.

Leading 57-53, Pitts drove to the basket, passed it to Chris-Ebou Ndow who made the layup and was fouled. He converted the three-point play.

When Northwest held a 60-56 lead, Zach Schneider drilled a three-pointer with 7:25 left. The Lopers came right back and closed to 63-60. At that point, Northwest put the game away by going on an 11-0 run for a 74-60 lead. Schneider knocked down a three-pointer and Pitts converted a three-point play during the run.

“Coming down the stretch, we started ball screens with Zach and I and they didn’t know what to do switching back,” Pitts said. “Every time they miscommunicated, we ended up scoring off of it.”

The icing came with 3 minutes left and Northwest holding a comfortable 79-66 lead. Schneider drilled his eighth three-pointer of the game.

“We talk about it all year that we have a lot of weapons,” said Schneider, who went 8 for 11 on three-pointers for 24 points. “They kind of took away Chris. JP and I went to the ball screen. If it is a different game, we will do something different. That is what was open today. We just knocked down the shots.”

Northwest withstood a gritty effort from Nebraska-Kearney in the first half and took a slim 32-31 into halftime.

“They had a great game plan. They executed it. They played with great energy,” McCollum said of Nebraska-Kearney. “Offensively, they are always good. It wasn’t our poor performance; it was their really good performance.”

From the start, it was obvious the Bearcats needed to grind it out to stay close. Nebraska-Kearney jumped to a 12-6 lead. Northwest fought back and tied it 16-16 on a three-pointer by Schneider.

Although they tied the game, the Bearcats were struggling with their offense. Nebraska-Kearney took advantage of another lull and went in front 20-16.

The four-point deficit sparked the Bearcats’ best sequence in the first half. Schneider started the 8-0 run with a three-pointer. The run concluded with a three-point play by Pitts followed by another two-point field goal by Pitts, giving Northwest a 24-20 lead.

The Lopers responded by scoring the next seven points for a 27-24 lead. Northwest answered on five quick points from Pitts to put the Bearcats back in front 29-27. After Nebraska-Kearney tied the game, Schneider hit his third, three-pointer of the half to make it 32-29. The Lopers finished the half with a two-point field goal at the buzzer.

Neither team was able to hold the momentum long in a back-and-forth first half. Statistically, the first half was just as close. Nebraska-Kearney was 12 for 26 from the field and Northwest was 12 for 25 from the field. Each team had 15 rebounds.

“We are going to have these types of games down the stretch,” Schneider said. “I think we took a big step today.”

— Northwest Athletics —