The Northwest Missouri State University men’s basketball team fell to Minnesota State, 60-50, on Saturday in the first round of the NCAA Central Region tournament at Bearcat Arena in Maryville, Mo., on Saturday evening.

– Northwest finishes the season with a 27-4 overall record while the Mavericks improve to 23-9 and will face Southwest Minnesota on Sunday.

– Chris-Ebou Ndow finished with a team-high 21 points and grabbed a game-best 13 rebounds for his seventh double-double of the year.

Key Northwest Statistics
– Northwest shot 29.1 percent from the field (16-for-55) and were 8-of-34 (23.5 percent) from beyond the arc.

– Minnesota State hit 51.1 percent (23-for-45) from the field and hit 5-of-11 (45.5 percent) from three point territory.

– The Bearcats and the Mavericks each had seven steals. Northwest had nine turnovers while Minnesota State had 13.

– Joey Witthus scored 19 points with three long-range makes. He had three assists, three steals and two rebounds.

– Ndow hit four three pointers and was 5-of-6 from three point land and added three assists.

– Xavier Kurth grabbed five rebounds, two assists and a steal.

– Ryan Welty finished with five points, hitting one long range make. He had two rebounds and a steal.

– Brett Dougherty had a pair of assists and a steal.

– Northwest’s senior class finishes with a career record of 114-18 overall.

— Northwest Athletics —