MARYVILLE, Mo. -The Northwest Missouri State men’s basketball team entered Wednesday night’s game at Bearcat Arena against Lindenwood needing a win.
But the Bearcats faced a difficult task trying to break a modest two-game losing streak. They were facing the first place team in the MIAA and were playing without freshman point guard Justin Pitts, who missed his second straight game because of an ankle injury.
Overcoming adversity in a season builds character. The 2014-15 Bearcats proved once again that they have plenty of it. Northwest picked up a much-needed victory, beating Lindenwood 74-61.
“It was really important,” Grant Cozad said of the win. “We were on a two-game losing streak. To be home with the home crowd helped us. To get that monkey off our backs and get our confidence back is big to go on the road to Lincoln.”
Northwest improved to 14-5 overall and 7-4 in the MIAA, and Lindenwood dropped to 8-3 and 13-7.
“We wanted to play with emotion from the start and I think we did,” Cozad said. “Playing the number one team in conference definitely helps. It brings out the fire in you.”
Going without Pitts, who leads the Bearcats in scoring with a 16.1 points per game average, Northwest needed contributions from everybody. The Bearcats got it.
Cozad, a 6-foot-8 senior center, played a man’s game in the paint against Lindenwood’s 6-9 center Sam Mader. Cozad finished with 22, hard-earned points.
“I started off a little slow, trying to get the feel for it,” said Cozad, who had nine rebounds. “I kind of stepped up there and took it to them. I was ready for it. I had a couple of bad games leading up to this one. I needed to have a good one. I felt like I did. I played physical with him down low. I had fun. I like it physical. It was a fun game.”
Sophomore wing man Zach Schneider made sure the inside didn’t get clogged up by drilling seven three-pointers and finishing with 21 points.
“I could feel it in warm ups,” Schneider said. “I knew it was going to be a good game. I knew I was going to get open looks tonight.”
And junior Lyle Harris, filling in for Pitts, played a steady game at point, making several nice passes to Cozad and doing a great job driving to the basket for layups. Harris finished with a career-high 15 points.
“I just got to do my job,” Harris said. “Basically, that is it. I have to make sure my teammates believe in me and I believe in them.”
Most impressively, Northwest maintained a double-digit lead throughout the second half.
A basket by Harris to start the second half, gave Northwest a 41-27 lead. The Bearcats’ advantage eventually grew to 50-32.
Lindenwood fought back, but needed a lot of time to close to 60-51 on a three-pointer by Darris Smith with about 6 minutes left.
Northwest quickly responded with a basket in the paint from Cozad and a three-pointer by Schneider with 4:32 left pushed the Bearcats’ lead to 65-51. Lindenwood never threatened again.
“Coming off those two losses, we got back to work,” Schneider said. “We had tough practices. This was our biggest rebounding margin this year, 32-18. That is the stat that sticks out to me.”
In the first 5 minutes of the game there were eight lead changes. The final one, a three-pointer by Harris propelled Northwest to a 10-8 lead that quickly grew to 15-10 thanks to a three-pointer by Schneider.
Northwest, particularly Schneider, remained hot from behind the arc and went into halftime with a 39-27 lead.
Schneider was on fire in the first half. He knocked down five three-pointers in eight attempts for 15 points.
The Bearcats also played strong inside behind Cozad and freshman Brett Dougherty. Cozad scored 10 points, going 4 for 5 from the field. Dougherty added five, including a three-point play that staked Northwest to an 18-12 lead.
From start to finish, Northwest proved it could play winning basketball while dealing with injuries.
“We have four injuries right now,” Schneider said. “We knew we were going to play a tight rotation with seven guys. Lyle stepped up big time and everyone else did, also. Anthony Woods and Brett gave us big minutes, too so it was good.”
— David Boyce, Northwest Athletics —