By David Boyce

MARYVILLE, Mo. – The matchup in the Central Region semifinals was as tantalizing as a round of 32 game can get for the NCAA Division II Tournament.

No. 1 ranked Northwest Missouri State was taking on defending champion Augustana in a rematch of last year’s Central Region championship game. Augustana won that game by two points in its hometown of Sioux Falls, S.D.

Northwest Missouri got its revenge with a 74-53 victory Sunday evening at Bearcat Arena. It has been a friendly regional rivalry between two teams that have faced each other the last three seasons in the postseason tournament.

“This has been an awesome rivalry,” said Augustana senior Adam Beyer, who scored 12 points. “I have had a great time. They have been outstanding games every time we played. They are a really good team. It will be nice to see the rivalry continue because I know they are going to be good and we are going to be good.”

In the last two years, they have faced each other four times with each team winning twice.

“It is a great rivalry,” said Northwest senior Zach Schneider, who finished with 15 points. “That is what you get in Division II with regions. “We have played them in region three straight years and obviously, we have had some great battles with them. Tonight, we played really well.”

The victory puts the Bearcats in the Central Region championship game for the fourth straight season. The previous three years Northwest lost.

Now Northwest, 31-1, will be looking to break that streak when it takes on Southwest Minnesota State, 28-5, 7 p.m. CT Tuesday at Bearcat Arena.

“We are just looking at it as another home game,” Schneider said. “We will get a good scout on Southwest and get a good practice in tomorrow.”

Northwest coach Ben McCollum reiterated the point of treating Tuesday’s game like a midseason contest.

“We got class tomorrow?” McCollum asked as he looked at a couple of Northwest players. “We have class so we will go to class tomorrow and then have a home game on Tuesday. Obviously, it is not just another game. I think a relaxed mentality helped us quite a bit tonight. If we can stay relaxed and calm, I think we will be okay.”

The Bearcats started the second half against Augustana with a 13-point lead and quickly expanded it to 45-27 on a three-pointer by Schneider followed by two free throws from junior Chris-Ebou Ndow.

Augustana junior Jordan Spencer, who made the game-winning free throws in last year’s Central Region championship game, hit a three-pointer and then a two-point field goal to make it 45-32.

The Vikings, though, never got closer than 11 points the rest of the way. Every time they made a little run, somebody for Northwest stepped up with a basket. With 12:50 left, it was freshman Ryan Welty who knocked down a three-pointer to give Northwest a 52-35 lead.

Northwest’s lead grew to 58-37 on a basket by senior D’Vante Mosby. Augustana made one more push, closing to 62-39 with just over 4 minutes left. But a NBA-range three-pointer by Justin Pitts with 3:58 left made it 65-39, and all but dashed any hopes of the Vikings repeating as national champions.

Crisp passing, particularly in the first half, led to a balanced scoring attack. Pitts led Northwest Missouri with 16 points, Schneider scored 15, Ndow had 12 and senior Anthony Woods finished with 11.

“We played a team tonight that if they play like that, they can win a national championship,” Augustana coach Tom Billeter said. “They were really ready to play. I thought we competed.

“We only lost two games by double figures this year and they were both to them.”

Northwest showed how in sync it was on the final play in the first half. With the clock running down to 5 seconds, Pitts drove, passed it to forward Brett Dougherty who then kicked it back outside to Welty. Welty nailed a three-pointer at the buzzer to push Northwest’s lead to 40-27.

“It was great,” Ndow said of the ball movement in the first half. “The first game we had some problems offensively to get in the flow. This game we came out with the mindset to get the ball moving and get everybody involved and we did a good job of it.”

Augustana started the game with a three-pointer from Spencer. It would be the only lead of the half for the Vikings.

Northwest scored the next six points for a 6-3 lead. The Vikings tied the game 6-6 on a three-pointer by senior Mike Busack. It was the only tie in the first half.

The Bearcats went on a 16-2 run for a 22-8 lead. Most of the points came on baskets in the paint that were set up from multiple passes.

Busack kept the Vikings close, especially when he hit a long three-pointer that closed the gap to 29-22. Northwest scored the next four points and maintained a double-digit lead for all but one possession to close out the half.

Northwest shot 50 percent from the field in the first half and had 10 assists on its 17 field goals. The Bearcats also held Augustana to 39 percent shooting from the field.

“It is always fun to play Augustana,” McCollum said. “We have built somewhat of a rivalry with them. They are extremely well coached. They have a lot of good players, a lot of winners out there. They competed.

“I thought defensively, our kids were really locked in for the whole game.”

— Northwest Athletics —

By David Boyce

MARYVILLE, Mo. – Four months in a college basketball season makes a big difference. Northwest Missouri State learned that lesson Saturday evening and fortunately it didn’t come with a heartbreaking loss.

Northwest, the No. 1 seed and host school in the Central Region, regrouped from a disastrous conclusion at the end of regulation and beat Upper Iowa 79-74 in overtime in front of 2,195 fans at Bearcat Arena.

“What a performance by Upper Iowa,” Northwest coach Ben McCollum said. “They are the eighth seed in the tournament and they gave us all that we could handle. They played unbelievable.

“We got caught in the moment a little bit. We missed shots we normally make and missed free throws we normally make. The thing that we did do was we didn’t let all the bad plays affect your competitiveness.”

In the season opener for both teams, Northwest beat Upper Iowa 87-53 on Nov. 11.

“I don’t remember that game,” Upper Iowa coach Brooks McKowen said with a laugh. “It wasn’t our best showing.

“But I am proud of what our guys did tonight. We battled. We did everything we could to win that game. I thought both teams deserved to win it.”

The Peacocks came oh so close to making Northwest’s magical season disappear. But the Bearcats had a few tricks up their sleeves in the 5-minute overtime to continue their March Madness run.

Northwest, 30-1, advances to the regional semifinal game for the fourth straight season, and will play 7:30 p.m. Sunday.

The way the end of regulation concluded and overtime started, the situation looked bleak for Northwest in front of one of the largest crowds ever at Bearcat Arena.

All the momentum was riding with the Peacocks, who hit a miracle three-pointer by Carson Parker to send the game in overtime. Parker then made two free throws at the start of overtime to give Upper Iowa a 65-63 lead.

Fortunately for Northwest, it has MIAA Player of the Year, junior Justin Pitts, on its side. Pitts tied the game with a floater and then made a three-point play to give Northwest a 68-65 lead. Pitts added another bucket with 2:20 left, increasing Northwest’s lead to 71-65. Upper Iowa never got closer than three points the rest of the game.

“I was trying to be aggressive and play my game,” said Pitts, who finished with a game-high 33 points. “After they scored on those two free throws, it was Chris-Ebou Ndow who came up to me and said, ‘take over. This is your game. Go out and play.’ It feels great to have your teammates have that confidence in you.”

There is a reason why teammates have confidence in Pitts’ scoring ability. He became the all-time leading scorer at Northwest Saturday evening.

“I didn’t know that,” Pitts said. “It is a big accomplishment for me as an individual, but right now I am not thinking about that. I am just getting ready for the next game.”

Missed free throws by Northwest in the final 7 minutes led to overtime. At one point, the Bearcats missed four straight free throws and that allowed Upper Iowa to turn a 56-49 deficit into a 58-56 lead with 3:30 left.

“They just made plays,” Northwest senior D’Vante Mosby said. “A lot of them were gutsy plays. A lot of them were on our mistakes as well. They did a really good job capitalizing on them.”

Northwest scored the next five points and held a 61-58 lead with 1:43 left. Leading 63-60 with 8 second left, Northwest had a chance to put the game away at the free throw line. The Bearcats only needed one. They missed both.

Those misses opened the door for Parker to make an amazing three-pointer. He dribbled around a defender twice and then fired a three-pointer at the top of the key that swished through the nets as the buzzer sounded.

“It was a big-time shot,” McCollum said. “My instinct was to cry, to be honest. But it really doesn’t do you a whole lot of good in that situation. So it is let’s go. We have 5 more minutes. You can’t let that break you.

“So much went wrong tonight, but what didn’t go wrong was our ability to compete. We competed.”

Parker, who finished with 20 points, also competed as he demonstrated with his clutch three-pointer.

“I got a glimpse of how much time was left,” Parker said. “I tried to get the best look I could. Obviously, we needed a three. I was fortunate enough it went in.”

In the first half, Northwest needed one hot stretch to take a 38-33 lead into halftime.

The Bearcats took a 7-4 lead early in the first half on a three-pointer by senior Zach Schneider. But it was clear Upper Iowa was going to stay close to the Bearcats.

The Peacocks tied the game at 15-15 and continued to make it tough for Northwest to get on a run.

Ahead 18-17, Northwest finally put together a spurt that created some separation. It started with a three-pointer by Pitts and a basket in the paint by senior Anthony Woods, who finished with 16 points

After Upper Iowa scored, Northwest went on a 10-2 run for a 33-21 lead. Pitts scored six points in the spurt. Seemingly in control with a 35-23 lead, the Bearcats started missing three-pointers and Upper Iowa clogged up the paint.

Solid defense by the Peacocks helped them crawl back in the game. They outscored Northwest 10-3 to close out the first half.

Upper Iowa found success offensively, going 15 for 27 from the field for 55.6 percent. Northwest wasn’t as efficient on offense, going 13 for 29 from the field for 44.8 percent.

In the end, Northwest prevailed.

“Survive and advance,” McCollum said.

— Northwest Athletics —