By David Boyce, Northwest Athletics
JOPLIN, Mo. – Junior Anthony Woods and sophomore Justin Pitts put on such a spectacular display of weaving inside to the basket that Northwest Missouri State’s 89-77 victory over Missouri Southern could have been titled, “Art of the Drive.”
The two guards unleashed a layup clinic Wednesday evening at Leggett & Platt Athletic Center that was mesmerizing at times and always effective.
The Bearcats also tossed in a few timely three-pointers and relentless defense to win their third straight conference road game to improve to 5-2 overall and 3-0 in the MIAA.
Next up for the Bearcats is their first home conference game of the season at 3:30 p.m. Sunday against Pittsburg State.
“It really gives us a lot of confidence going into Sunday’s game against Pitt State,” Woods said. “It is a good rivalry game and everybody is excited.”
Northwest started the second half with a seven-point lead and quickly increased it to 43-31 on a basket by senior Conner Crooker followed by a three-pointer by Crooker.
The Lions closed to 43-36 and that was when Woods drove to the basket for a layup. He did it repeatedly throughout the second half, scoring 21 of his career-high 25 points in the final 20 minutes.
“A lot of times they were switching and putting a big on me and he was pretty slow and I was going around him,” Woods said. “A lot of times when Justin came off the ball screen, I was wide open because they were watching the ball so much.”
Pitts did a lot of his damage in the first half with drives to the basket. Pitts added a few more layups in the second half.
An example of just how well Northwest was operating as a team occurred midway through the second half. Long-rang bomber Zach Schneider launched his first shot of the game with about 10 minutes left. Northwest was leading 64-57 at the time. His three-pointer made it 67-57.
Schneider’s three shot attempts in the game showed that the Bearcats were willing to take what Southern was giving them. The Lions took away the outside shot so Northwest simply drove the ball inside.
“It gives us a lot of confidence driving now,” Pitts said. “We have a lot of shooters on the team and they (opponents) are going to be hugging more and we will do what we did tonight, drive and kick out and have Woods score 25.”
Whenever Southern made a small run, the Bearcats always had an offensive answer. Northwest spread the scoring around. Pitts finished with 19, Crooker added 18 and junior D’Vante Mosby scored 12.
“Everybody is sharing pretty well,” Woods said. “I think it will help out in the future. If we keep winning, everybody’s confidence stays up. I think it helps out a lot.”
Northwest hit over 50 percent of its shots in the first half and that allowed the Bearcats to take a 38-31 lead into halftime.
“It is pretty big for us,” Pitts said about starting strong. “It all starts in practice when coach Mac (Ben McCollum) says we have to come right out of the gate. We can’t have a slow first half, be down by 16 and try to come back.”
The lead changed six times in the first 10 minutes. The Bearcats went ahead for good in the first half at 13-12 on a basket by Pitts. It sparked a quick 6-0 run that put Northwest in front 17-12.
By late in the first half, the Bearcats’ lead grew to 38-28. A three-pointer by Taevaunn Prince at the buzzer helped the Lions close to seven.
Since this is the Christmas season, it is only fitting that Southern was led by Charlie Brown. Brown started the game with a three-pointer and finished with 10 points in the first half.
Pitts, though, matched Brown with 10 points. Pitts also pulled down four rebounds and had two assists in the opening period.
— Northwest Athletics —