The Northwest Missouri State University men’s basketball team defeated Southwest Baptist, 78-46, on Saturday at Bearcat Arena in Maryville, Mo.

– Northwest improved to 14-1 overall and 6-1 in MIAA play. Southwest Baptist falls to 9-6 and 3-3 in conference action.

– Xavier Kurth tied a career-high with 18 points on 6-of-7 shooting. He was a perfect 3-for-3 on three point attempts and added four rebounds, three assists and two steals.

– Northwest held SBU to just 15-of-39 shooting (38.5 percent) and forced 20 turnovers. Northwest held a 29-9 advantage in points off turnovers.

Key Northwest Statistics
– Northwest hit 47.4 percent of its field goal attempts (27-57) and hit 12-of-26 on three point attempts (46.2 percent).

– At halftime, Northwest led 40-21, and pushed its lead to 36 points late in the second half.

– Southwest Baptist never led and Northwest outscored SBU’s bench, 24-9.

– In the rebound battle, Northwest had 31 including 11 offensive boards to Southwest Baptist’s 29 rebounds.

– SBU committed 20 turnovers while Northwest had just eight turnovers on the day.

– Chris-Ebou Ndow had 13 points with two rebounds. He added a block and a steal.

– Joey Witthus nailed four three-pointers and finished the day with 12 points, three rebounds and one assist.

– For the third time in his career, Justin Pitts hit double-digits in assists, finishing with 1-0 and two rebounds.

– Brett Dougherty had nine points and seven rebounds, dishing off two assists with a steal.

Key Northwest Sequence
– Northwest jumped out to an early lead, scoring 21 of the game’s first 25 points. Kurth scored seven points in the stretch with two assists coming from Pitts. Ndow, Witthus and Kurth all connected from the outside as the lead grew to 21-4 with 11:52 to play. Southwest Baptist was never able to get on track, committing three turnovers while shooting 2-for-7 from the field.

Up Next
– Northwest will host Central Missouri in a rescheduled game on Monday, Jan. 15, at 3:30 p.m. at Bearcat Arena.

— Northwest Athletics —