The 12th-ranked Northwest Missouri State men’s basketball stayed perfect on the season as they ran away from Nebraska-Kearney 90-60 Saturday afternoon in MIAA action from Bearcat Arena.

The Bearcats built a 10-0 lead and never looked back to improve to 8-0 overall and 2-0 in league play. Nebraska-Kearney fell to 2-5 on the season and 0-2 in its first season in the MIAA.

A complete team effort saw four Bearcats score in double figures and sophomore Matt Wallace record 12 assists – two shy of a single-game record. Wallace was the only Bearcat earning minutes to be held scoreless, but the Bellevue, Neb., native found other ways to help his team in Saturday’s win adding two rebounds and only turning the ball over once.

In all Northwest finished with 23 assists as a team and committed only six turnovers. The Bearcats forced 14 UNK turnovers and tallied seven steals.

Grant Cozad paced the Bearcats scoring a career-high 17 points off the bench to lead all scorers. Cozad added six rebounds.

DeAngelo Hailey recorded his sixth straight double figure game with 14 points and also added six rebounds in the win. Tyler Funk and Alex Sullivan were the other Bearcats to finish in double figures with 12 and 11 points respectively.

Northwest pulled in 10 more rebounds than the Lopers (37-27) and the Bearcats big men finished with one of their best performances. The Bearcats outscored UNK 42-18 in the paint and picked up 50 points off the bench to help aid the 30-point victory.

Dating back to the 2010-11 season, Northwest has now won 21 of its last 22 games inside Bearcat Arena and is 18-1 since the beginning of the 2011-12 campaign.

Drew Sankey led UNK with 14 points and four rebounds.

The Bearcats will return to action after finals week as they travel to Honolulu for the Hawaii Classic Dec. 15 and 16. Northwest will open tournament action against St. Edward’s before closing out action against Harding.

— NWMSU Sports Information —