SIOUX FALLS, S.D. – A 25-foot three-pointer by Augustana senior Daniel Jansen with .5 seconds left prevented Northwest Missouri State men’s basketball team from pulling off a thrilling comeback victory over the No. 1 ranked team in Division II.
It appeared Northwest might get an improbable win when sophomore Justin Pitts stole the ball and made a layup with 25 seconds left, which gave the Bearcats a one-point lead in a game they trailed by 15 points early in the second half.
The Vikings brought the ball up and then called timeout with 13 seconds left. Northwest played great defense, disrupting the planned play by Augustana. With time winding down to under 3 seconds, Jansen got the ball and was forced to shoot.
Jansen drilled the three-pointer, giving Augustana a 79-77 victory.
“I thought my shot was enough, but he is one of the best players I’ve seen in Division II,” Pitts said. “It was a nice shot.”
The loss dropped Northwest to 1-2, but the Bearcats left Sioux Falls Arena Thursday evening knowing it can play with anybody in the country.
“The first half we weren’t focused in on defense,” Pitts said. “The second half we came out to play. We just locked in and got stops and made it the game that it was.”
Northwest coach Ben McCollum said he wants the Northwest team that showed up in the second half to travel back to Maryville, Mo. The Bearcats can win with that team. He wants the first-half Bearcats to get lost.
“What I told them after the game was the first half team and the team that showed up against Upper Iowa, that team needs to stay in Sioux Falls and just disappear,” McCollum said. “Right now, we have to grow up and be that second half team. We need to understand we are not the talent team, the 14th ranked team. That is not us.
“We are a grind-it-out, hard-nosed, fight you team. We drank some of the poison and thought we were the talent team. That is not our style. But I couldn’t be prouder the way our team competed in the second half.”
McCollum’s assessment basically describes the two halves. Northwest fell behind big in the first half and faced a 59-44 deficit with 15:07 left in the game. At that point, the gritty Bearcats took over and fought for every loose ball and found a way to score even when shots weren’t falling.
The Bearcats helped them close to 68-64 with 7:39 left on a three-pointer by Pitts. Pitts was unstoppable in the second half, making five three-pointers. He scored 22 of his 24 points in the second half.
Northwest tied the game at 71-71 with 2:57 left on a free throw by Pitts. The Bearcats took its first lead since it was 3-1 on a layup by Pitts with 1:36 left, making it 75-74.
“It was good to see what we can do,” Pitts said.
Augustana went back ahead on a layup by Jansen. Pitts eventually answered Jansen with a layup, but it was not quite enough. Jansen hit the clutch three-pointer, sealing the win for the Vikings.
“It was a learning experience,” Northwest junior D’Vante Mosby, who finished with 13 points. “It was also disheartening because we did all the work to get back into the game. We did everything we could to get back. They had a little magic up here. We will live to see another day.”
There were many bright spots, particularly from the bench. Woods, Anthony Woods and Chris-Ebou Ndow came off the bench and combined for 37 points, going 12 for 17 from the field.
“It is good to see us all do well, especially against a great team on a big stage,” Mosby said. “It is good to see us all come together. It goes back to coach Mac. It’s everybody else before yourself or you won’t play and that is a good thing.”
The best things for Northwest in the first half was it kept its composure, hit its free throws and made a few baskets in the final 5 minutes to go into halftime trailing 47-38.
The Bearcats struggled on the defensive end throughout the first 20 minutes. They didn’t have an answer for Jensen and Casey Schilling. Jensen, in particular, posed a matchup problem. The 6-foot-9 center was a force in the paint and he also floated outside to make a couple of three-pointers.
Schilling was equaling effective outside and inside. Schilling and Jensen each scored 13 points in the first half. They were the key reasons how the Vikings built a 38-22 lead.
Northwest was definitely in trouble at that point. But the Bearcats never showed panic. Woods calmly sank free throw after free throw. One set of free throws stopped a run by Augustana and made it 38-24. Sophomore Xavier Kurth followed with a three-pointer, closing the gap to 38-27.
From that point on, the Bearcats not only stuck with Augustana, they moved closer. Late in the first half, Northwest pulled to within seven at 45-38 on Pitts first basket of the game.
“It is very encouraging we can come back and that all goes back to coach Mac,” Pitts said. “He keeps us calm.”
Augustana won the first half on its offensive execution. The Vikings were 17 for 33 from the field for 51.5 percent. Northwest was also efficient on offense, going 13 for 28 from the field for 46.4 percent.
Leading the way for the Bearcats in the first half was Woods, who came off the bench and scored 10 points. He was six for seven from the free throw line.
— David Boyce, Northwest Athletics —