By David Boyce
MARYVILLE, Mo. – For much of the first half, Northwest Missouri State seemed headed to a double-digit victory over Lake Superior State Wednesday afternoon at Bearcat Arena.
Northwest held a 15-point halftime lead, but by midway through the second half, the Bearcats were locked in a battle that forced them to make clutch plays in the waning minutes.
And the Bearcats responded in positive fashion. Northwest, the No. 3 ranked team in NCAA Division II, pulled out a thrilling 91-86 victory, handing the Lakers their first loss of the season. Northwest improved to 5-0.
“We kind of lost focused,” said senior Zach Schneider, who finished with 21 points. “That is what we have done this year. We have built big leads and kind of lose focus at halftime. That is something we have to work on.”
It is a good thing for the fans the game came a day before Thanksgiving instead of Thanksgiving. The Bearcats put their fans on a wild, roller coaster ride the last 11 minutes of the game.
A ho hum win went by the wayside the first minute of the second half when Lake Superior opened with consecutive three-pointers, quickly closing to 49-40. It was the first time the Lakers trailed in single digits since it was 19-11.
Lake Superior trailed only 62-59 after a three-pointer by Blake Marquardt. It looked like Northwest put out that fire with a three pointer from freshman Ryan Welty.
It didn’t happen. The Lakers kept charging and eventually took a 66-65 lead. Northwest went right back in front on a layup by Justin Pitts with under 9 minutes left.
The Lakers took its second lead at 71-70 on another three-pointer by Marquardt. Once again, Northwest immediately answered with a four-point play by Schneider that gave the Bearcats a 74-71 lead with 5:38 left.
“That was a big one,” Schneider said. “It was kind of a jet screen that Pitts and I have been running for four years, since we came up here for our visit. He drags my defender away. They both commit to him and I was able to get open, knock it down and got fouled at the same time.”
Northwest never trailed again, but the Bearcats definitely needed to make plays in the final 5 minutes to put the game away. Pitts, who finished with a team-high 27 points, made a couple of free throws that gave Northwest an 82-77 lead. Northwest held an 87-81 lead when the Lakers made their final charge.
A three-pointer by Akaemji Williams with 12 seconds left, made it 87-86. Williams finished with a game-high 34 points.
The final key play of the game by Northwest came a couple of seconds later. Welty, who drained a couple important three-pointers during the game, made a cut to the basket. Brett Dougherty tossed a perfect pass to him. Welty was going in for a layup when Lake Superior fouled him too hard. A flagrant foul was called. Welty wasn’t in condition to shoot the free throws so Pitts calmly made both free throws.
“Brett had the ball right there and he saw me cutting towards the rim,” Welty said. “I knew I was going to get fouled hard, but I wasn’t expecting to get fouled as hard as I did. It stinks I had to come out, but JP (Pitts) hit two big free throws and Xavier hit two big free throws to ice the game.”
Because it was a flagrant foul, Northwest maintained possession of the basketball and Xavier Kurth was fouled with 7.6 seconds left. Kurth calmly made both free throws to give Northwest a five-point cushion.
“We knew it certainly could be,” Schneider said about the potential of a close second half. “We executed our scouting report really well in the first half.”
In the first half, Northwest needed to execute at a high level to take a 49-34 lead into halftime. The Bearcats shot 57.7 percent from the field, including four for seven from behind the three-point arc.
Northwest jumped to a 12-6 lead fueled by six quick points from Pitts. Over the next 5 minutes, the Bearcats stayed hot, increasing their lead to 26-11 on three free throws by Schneider.
During the first 10 minutes, Northwest played as well as a team can play early in the season against a good opponent.
As the Lakers started to heat up, Northwest managed to hold a comfortable lead because of the way it kept making baskets and free throws. Northwest held a 47-32 lead when Welty made three straight free throws after being fouled on a three-point attempt. The lead went to 17 points on a basket by Pitts.
“Coach trusted me to hit open shots,” said Welty, who finished with nine points. “It is really easy to hit open shots when JP is creating like he does. He gets to the basket so easily so the defense collapse on him and he kicks it out and that helps a lot.”
— Northwest Athletics —