By David Boyce
KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Seven minutes into its MIAA quarterfinal game, Northwest Missouri State showed its enthusiastic crowd the Bearcats’ trademark teamwork and that unity pulled them through to victory against Lincoln.
Leading by three in the opening minutes, Northwest junior Justin Pitts, the MIAA player of the year, slipped a nice pass inside to junior Chris-Ebou Ndow for a layup. The Bearcats held at least a three-point lead the rest of the first half and went into halftime ahead by 13.
The double-digit advantage was just enough for Northwest to hold off Lincoln in an 80-76 victory Thursday evening at Municipal Auditorium. Northwest, 27-1, returns to action 2:30 p.m. Saturday in the semifinals.
“That was a fun postseason game,” Northwest coach Ben McCollum said. “That is what postseason is about, those types of games. For a ninth seed (Lincoln), that says a lot about our conference.
“They have a lot of weapons for a ninth seed. I thought our kids came out and battled. We need to get a little better from the free throw line (13-for-24). They were desperate down the stretch and that’s what teams do. They fight for it and were hungry to win. We were fortunate enough to pull it off in the end.”
Northwest needed that teamwork to put the game away. Clinging to a 74-72 lead with 54 seconds left, Northwest worked the shot clock to the final second when senior Anthony Woods delivered an inside pass to senior D’Vante Mosby, who made the basket and was fouled. Mosby completed the three-point play by making the free throw with 24 seconds left.
Lincoln refused to go away and hit a desperation three-pointer with 16.3 seconds left that made it a two-point game again at 77-75.
Ndow, who finished with 14 points, gave Northwest a four-point lead on two clutch free throws with 14 seconds left. After Lincoln made a free throw, Nodow put the game away with another free throw.
“I think it is big for our confidence, going into postseason,” senior Zach Schneider said. “We are going to see games like this going into regionals.
“I was pretty calm. We have the best player in the country in closing time. It works out pretty well.”
It turned out that the offensive show by Pitts was much needed. He scored on driving layups, soft jumpers in the paint and three-point bombs. When the smoke cleared from his hot hand, Pitts finished with 30.
“Coach Mac told me to start being more aggressive,” Pitts said. “It is postseason time. The team came out and played hard and aggressive.”
The Bearcats came out with a look that they are serious about defending their MIAA Tournament title. It didn’t matter to them that they just beat Lincoln 82-53 in their last regular-season game on Feb. 25.
Northwest started the game with a basket by Ndow and never trailed. But Lincoln gave a scrappy effort early on, forging ties at 2-2, 5-5 and 10-10.
Two free throws by Ndow and a three-pointer by freshman Ryan Welty gave Northwest a 15-10 lead.
A minute later came the Pitts to Ndow basket that made it 17-12. Still, the Blue Tigers stayed close and trailed only 27-23 when Northwest went on a 9-0 run for a 36-23 lead.
The breakaway offensive spurt started on a three-pointer by Schneider. Ndow followed with a basket and then Pitts hit a 10-foot jumper in the lane. Pitts finished the run with another basket.
Northwest held a double-digit lead the rest of the first half and went into halftime ahead 46-33. The Bearcats shot 63 percent from the field in the first half, including seven for 12 from three-point range.
Nine of the 17 field goals came on assists, led by five for Pitts. Pitts was just as dynamic scoring, putting up 15 points in the first half. He made three, three-pointers, a couple of floaters that added up to six for eight from the field.
“We kind of went with top ball screen with Zach,” Pitts said. “They don’t switch and can’t stay with either me or Zach. We went to that and it worked out well. We started getting shots and other people started getting open when I drove. Everything opened up.”
As well as Northwest played in the first half, the Bearcats were forced to keep up a high level of play in the second half because Lincoln continued to give maximum effort. The Blue Tigers cut it to nine at 47-38 in the opening minute of the second half.
A three-pointer by Pitts 4 minutes into the second half gave Northwest a 52-40 lead. Northwest advantage grew to 61-45 on a three-pointer by Welty.
But Lincoln fought back again and closed to 65-60 on a basket by Lincoln senior Anthony Virdure with 6:55 left. Pitts restored order with a floater followed by a driving layup to give the Bearcats a 69-60 lead.
Northwest eventually increased its lead back to 10 at 71-61 on basket by senior Mosby from Woods.
There was no quit in the Blue Tigers. They cut it to 73-67 with 3 minutes left and closed to three at 73-70 on three-pointer by Maurice Mason with 2:30 left.
“It was tourney time,” McCollum said. “They got desperate and started hitting shots. They started to get hot.
“The whole game didn’t feel easy to me. But it was fun, and a fun environment. Hopefully, we can play well again on Saturday.”
— Northwest Athletics —
