By David Boyce – Northwest Athletics
MARYVILLE, Mo. – Oh, there was a chance that Northwest Missouri State’s men’s basketball team could have blown an 18-point halftime lead Thursday evening against Lincoln University, a blue moon chance.
After all, the rare blue moon that occurred a couple of days ago, is actually going to happen again in March. If blue moons happened that often, the saying once in a blue moon would have never become a common saying.
Northwest made sure there wasn’t going to be a blue moon occurrence at Bearcat Arena. Northwest was playing too well to have major collapse in the second half. The Bearcats beat Lincoln 76-43 and improved to 18-2 overall and 10-2 in the MIAA.
“It was important to play well in the second half,” said Northwest senior Chris-Ebou Ndow, who finished with 18 points and eight rebounds. “We have a tendency when we have a big lead to relax. We can’t afford that no matter who we are playing. The tournament is right around the corner. We can’t afford to have any slippage at any point in the game.”
By the way, Ndow said he has heard the blue moon saying, but didn’t know what it meant.
“I’m from Norway,” he said.
Freshman Ryan Hawkins knew what once in a blue moon means, but Northwest coach Ben McCollum said he didn’t.
“I know what a red moon means,” McCollum said.
Well, in the first half, the Bearcats were red hot at times.
In building a 45-27 halftime lead, the Bearcats started on fire from three-point range. And in the final 7 minutes of the first half, Northwest played its trademark team basketball and that significantly diminished Lincoln’s slim hopes of pulling off an upset.
Senior Justin Pitts, who finished with 20 points, started off blazing hot. He knocked down two long three-pointers that quickly wiped out Northwest’s only deficit of 5-0. After Pitts’ bombs, Ndow drained a three-pointer, making it 9-5.
The Bearcats’ first five field goals were three-pointers. Northwest then showed Lincoln it can score in the paint. The inside basket came on a thunderous dunk by Ndow that gave the Bearcats a 17-7 lead.
A blowout looked imminent. The Blue Tigers had other ideas. They do have blue in their nickname. Lincoln closed to 23-18, and that was when freshman Ryan Hawkins stabbed the Blue Tigers with a three-point dagger. It signaled that Hawkins was on his game.
From that point on, Northwest played some beautiful team basketball. One play came with the Bearcats up 26-21. Hawkins, cutting to the basket, received a pass from senior Brett Dougherty. Hawkins made a reverse layup.
On the next possession, Hawkins was behind the three-point arc when he received a pass from Pitts. Hawkins drilled a three-pointer, increasing Northwest’s lead to 31-21.
“It is nice being on a team where everybody is unselfish,” said Hawkins, who finished with 13 points and eight rebounds. “We have so many guys who can score the ball so there is no way they can key on five different people. They have to pick and chose and we exploit the mismatches.”
Northwest started to pull away in the final 4 minutes. A NBA-range, rainbow three-pointer by Pitts gave Northwest a 36-25 lead. Hawkins followed with a three-pointer off an assist from Pitts. Next was Ndow who benefitted from a Pitts pass. His two-point field goal increased Northwest’s lead to 41-25. Pitts concluded the 10-0 run with two free throws, making it 43-25.
“We just paid attention to the details,” Ndow said. “We came ready to play, but we didn’t pay attention to the details and the small things in the scouting report. After a timeout, coach told us we weren’t necessarily playing bad; we just had to do the little things to get ourselves on a run. We were able to do that with five minutes left.”
Simply put, the Bearcats gave a clinic on team basketball. Twelve of their 15 field goals came on assists. It was a big reason Northwest shot 50 percent from the field in the first half.
“I think our team shares the ball as good as anybody in the country,” McCollum said. “The thing we get a lot that goes unnoticed is what I call the hockey assist, the pass before the pass that leads to a basket. Our guys share the ball so much. A hockey assist to me is just as important as the statistic assist. I think sometimes assists can be selfish as well because you are trying to gather assists. Our guys it is just an extra pass. They do it naturally. They don’t pay attention to assists at all.”
Pitts and Hawkins led the way in the first half. Pitts went six for nine from the field for 18 points and Hawkins was four for five and had 11 points.
Northwest never allowed Lincoln back in the game in the second half. There was no drama, only a demonstration of how to play with a big lead.
The Bearcats will look to increase their winning streak to four Saturday when they take on Lindenwood at 3:30 p.m. at Bearcat Arena.
— Northwest Athletics —