By David Boyce, Northwest Athletics
EDMOND, Okla. – Northwest Missouri State men’s basketball team was in such control of its road game at Central Oklahoma that it went 6 minutes without scoring in the second half and still held a 12-point lead.
The Bearcats prevailed, beating Central Oklahoma 77-61 Thursday evening at Hamilton Field House for their eighth straight victory. Northwest improved to 18-5 overall and 15-3 in the MIAA. The Bearcats have a three-game lead with four games remaining in the regular season.
“It starts with us playing with confidence and playing as a team,” said senior Conner Crooker on the winning streak. “Everybody knows their role, and we are playing to our strengths.
“This was definitely huge for us. We are one more game closer to our goal of a conference championship. We are really excited.”
Northwest concludes its two-game journey through Oklahoma at 3:30 p.m. Saturday at Northeastern State. A team performance like the one against Central Oklahoma could give the Bearcats another win. Sophomore Justin Pitts led Northwest with 21 points, Crooker had 18 and junior Zach Schneider finished with 14.
In addition, sophomore Chris-Ebou Ndow had a solid game with 10 rebounds and nine points and junior D’Vante Mosby scored nine and possibly had the biggest basket of the game.
The Bearcats dominated the first half and then got hotter early in the second half. A three-pointer by Pitts with 15:51 left in the second half gave Northwest a 55-34 lead. About a minute later, Schneider drilled a trey, making it 58-34 with 14:55 left.
With the game seemingly in hand, Northwest became stagnant on offense. The Bearcats stopped moving around. Layups weren’t dropping. It added up to their large lead was sliced in half. The Bronchos scored the next 12 and trailed 58-46.
“They started denying a lot heavier,” Northwest coach Ben McCollum said of Central Oklahoma’s defense. “We couldn’t move the ball and then our offense really got stuck. They did a good job on our ball screens.”
There was no panic from the Bearcats. The worked the ball inside and got it to Mosby, who powered the ball in the paint and scored. He was fouled and he made his free throw. Northwest’s lead shot up to 61-46 with 8:14 left.
“It was a pretty big play,” Mosby said. “If you are looking how long they sustained that run and how dry we were, just to put points on the board, anything was big.”
Any thoughts of a colossal collapses evaporated. Northwest maintained control the rest of the way.
“It is good to look at our coaching staff and they are not worried,” Mosby said. “Mac is a fiery guy, but you can count on good coaching and what they have to say is the best thing for us.”
As it turned out, the Bearcats held a double-digit lead the entire second half.
“We definitely didn’t panic,” Crooker said. “We were still up 10 or 12. We have the best play in the world, jet, where Pitts gets the ball screen. We have all the confidence in that. We weren’t really nervous.”
In the first half, Northwest played at a high level offensively. The Bearcats went 16 for 27 from the field for 59.3 percent and that was a big reason they went into half time ahead 40-27.
Central Oklahoma held only one lead and it came in the first minute on a three-pointer by Garen Wright, which gave the Bronchos a 4-2 lead.
The Bronchos were in no position to play the three-point game with Northwest. The Bearcats quickly responded with a trey from Schneider that put Northwest back in front 5-4 for good.
The three-pointer sparked a 10-0 run that concluded on a three-pointer by Pitts, giving Northwest a 12-4 lead.
Northwest’s next spurt came with a 19-14 lead. It started with a three-pointer from Ndow followed by a three-pointer from Crooker and then a three-point play by Crooker. This 10-0 run ended with a free throw from Pitts, making it 29-14.
The Bearcats easily maintained their double-digit lead the rest of the half. They were six for 12 from three-point range and held Central Oklahoma to two treys.
— Northwest Athletics —