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Author: Dave Riggert

Western men lose to No. 13 Midwestern State, 82-64

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MWSUThe Missouri Western men’s basketball team lost its second game of the year on the final day of the Hillyard Classic as the Griffons lost to No. 13 Midwestern State 82-64.  Western is now 3-2 while the Mustangs are 4-0.

The Mustangs jumped out to a quick 4-0 lead after one minute of play. The Griffons responded just as quickly.

Cortrez Colbert nailed a 3 followed by a three-point play to tie the game at six. Adarius Fulton added a 3-pointer to make it 9-6, and a back-and-forth game began.

Midwestern State began to increase its lead after the 10-minute mark of the opening half.

After a 25-24 ball game, the Mustangs went on a 15-7 run to lead by 10, 41-31, with with less than one minute to play.
Ryan Devers hit two free throws to cut the lead to eight, but DeJuan Plummers’ trey marked it 44-33 at halftime.

At the break, Colbert led the Griffons with 10 points. Plummer led the Mustangs with 14.

The Mustangs continued to increase their lead and made it 72-51 with 6:32 left in the game. Derek Kastner received an alley oop from Cam Adderley late in the game as Midwestern State took an 80-61 lead with one minute remaining.

Colbert led the game with 18 points. Behind him was Cedric Clinkscales who had 17. Two Mustangs players had 16 – Plummer and Monzaigo Williams. Eddie D’Haiti and Kastner had eight rebounds for Midwestern State. Devers led Missouri Western with six.

The Griffons return to the court next week against Illinois-Springfield on Nov. 23. The game is on the road with time set for 5 p.m.

— MWSU Sports Information —

Northwest men’s basketball team snaps two-game skid with win over Jewell

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Northwest2013riggertNorthwest Missouri State men’s basketball team needed a victory.

The Bearcats came into the second night of the Hillyard Tip-Off Classic Saturday evening in St. Joseph on a two-game losing streak after falling toMidwestern State on Friday.

Northwest showed its hunger for a win by scoring the first nine points of the game against William Jewell. But when halftime arrived, the Bearcats were locked in a tied game.

It remained close through most of the second half. In the latter portion of the game, reserved junior forward Grant Cozad used his 6-foot-8 frame and dominated the paint.

Clinging to a two-point lead, the Bearcats consistently found Cozad and he finished. He scored eight straight points that pushed Northwest’s lead to 10 and that was enough for the Bearcats to pull out a 78-71 victory.

“You never want to lose three straight so we needed to focus on this game and get this win,” said Cozard, who finished with a team-high 22 points. “It was a good boost for us. We have to move forward.”

The win evened Northwest’s record at 2-2. The Bearcats get four days off before they return to action 7 p.m. Wednesday at home against Baker.

“This game was pretty important,” Northwest coach Ben McCollum said. “We didn’t play well or real hard. Jewell played really well. They had a great game plan.

“I don’t think we understand that we don’t have a big margin for error. They have a misconception that because we were picked second in the MIAA, we have a margin for error, we can do anything we want and still comeback. We don’t have that. We have to make sure we correct it.”

The critical point in the game came with 7 minutes left. Northwest had built a 60-54 lead and then watched it shrink to 61-59.

Cozad took over. He positioned himself nicely in the paint and his teammates found him. His eight straight points gave the Bearcats a 69-59 lead. Northwest added a free throw to make it 70-59.

“Those last 10 minutes were extremely important for us,” Cozad said. “We started to buckle down and get stops. We hit free throws. That was a big thing. I think the last 10 minutes was the best we played the whole game.”

Cozad gave credit to Dillon Starzl, who set screens to free him open.

“They were trying to take away Dillon,” McCollum said. “I was more impressed with Grant’s rebounding. His defensive rebounding was excellent. We got some huge rebounds and obviously we finished some of those for lay-ups. We did agood job.”

Unlike the first half, William Jewell didn’t have enough time to make up that deficit.

Northwest started the game well, taking a 9-0 lead. But the Bearcats failed to maintain it. Midway through the first half, Northwest led only 18-15. Several minutes later it was tied 27-27.

The game stayed close the rest of the first half and at halftime it was tied 40-40.

Northwest shot well from the field, making 59 percent of their shots. But the Bearcats defense wasn’t as good, allowing William Jewell to make 55 percent of its shots, including four of eight from three-point range.

— Northwest Sports Information —

Mizzou returns to Sprint Center and survives scare from Hawaii

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MUKANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Jabari Brown scored 23 points and Jordan Clarkson added 13 as Missouri defeated Hawaii 92-80 Saturday night in its first game at Kansas City’s Sprint Center as members of the Southeastern Conference.

The Tigers’ lead remained in single digits for most of the game until Wes Clark fed Ryan Rosburg with a nifty pass for a two-handed dunk and a 10-point lead with just less than 8 minutes remaining. It gave the crowd a dose of energy on a night when both teams struggled to put together any sort of momentum or extended run.

Moments later, Clark drilled a 3-pointer to extend the Tigers’ lead to 13 points. Still, Hawaii’s Garrett Nevels responded with a 3-pointer of his own. But the Rainbow Warriors couldn’t get closer than 7 after that.

Rosburg emphatically ended Hawaii’s upset bid with another dunk with 2 minutes remaining.

Christian Standhardinger led Hawaii with 22 points before fouling out. The Rainbow Warriors lost their fifth-straight game on the mainland.

The Tigers were playing in the Sprint Center for the first time since winning the 2012 Big 12 Tournament final against Baylor. That was Missouri’s final game before bolting to the SEC. It was their sixth-straight victory in the venue.

Videos welcoming Missouri back to Kansas City from local business leaders and politicians were played on the video board during timeouts, but a chunk of empty seats littered the arena.

Hawaii made sure Missouri didn’t have an easy return to its Big 12 roots. After trailing by one at the half, the Tigers used a quick 12-6 spurt to grab the lead early in the second half.

Just like in the first half, the Rainbow Warriors responded to both runs.

Hawaii wasn’t as flashy as the Tigers, but they used timely 3-pointers and free throw shooting to take its halftime lead. The Rainbow Warriors outscored Missouri 16-6 from the free throw line in the first half before the Tigers scored a multitude of free throws to ice the game.

For most of second half, Hawaii stayed hot from the free-throw line, but it shot only 1 of 8 from 3-point range.

Missouri weathered Hawaii’s attack by using penetration to drive the ball and then either kick out to an open guard for a 3-point attempt or to an open big man down low when help defense arrived on the ball. Missouri dominated the points in the paint 56-36.

The Tigers stayed undefeated in their third game without coach Frank Haith, who was suspended by the NCAA for five games for his role in the Nevin Shapiro scandal while Haith was the head coach at Miami. He is eligible to coach his first game of the season Nov. 28 against Northwestern.

Missouri held Isaac Fotu, who leads Hawaii in scoring with 16.7 points per game, to only 7 points, helping offset the other four Rainbow Warriors who scored in double figures.

— Associated Press —

MWSU volleyball to play Nebraska-Kearney in MIAA Tournament

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riggertMissouriWesternThe MIAA volleyball postseason tournament was announced Saturday evening, and Missouri Western will take on Nebraska-Kearney in the first round.

Missouri Western is seeded No. 6 and will take on No. 3 Nebraska-Kearney in Kearney, Neb. on Tuesday, Nov. 19 with a start time set for 7 p.m.

Top seeded Central Missouri will host eighth seeded Pittsburg State in Warrensburg, Mo. Washburn earns the second seed and will face off with seventh seeded Northwest Missouri. The fourth and fifth-place match will be Central Oklahoma against Emporia State. All three matches will be at 7 p.m. on Tuesday.

The semi and finals matches will be played at the highest remaining seed.

Missouri Western is 16-14 and 9-7 in the conference. The Griffons played the Lopers once this season, falling on the road on Oct. 22 3-0.

— MWSU Sports Information —

Kansas State uses late field goal to rally past TCU

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KSUMANHATTAN, Kan. (AP) — Kansas State’s Jack Cantele had never tried a game-winning field goal, not as a kid growing up in Wichita or as the star kicker at Kapaun Mt. Carmel High School.

In his words, he’d been waiting his whole life for the opportunity.

So when the sophomore drilled a 41-yarder with 3 seconds remaining Saturday, his fourth field goal of the game, he leaped into the air in a wild celebration. The kick gave the Wildcats a 33-31 victory over TCU and made them bowl eligible for the fourth straight season.

”There was no doubt it was going in. It was one of the best kicks I’ve ever kicked,” said Cantele, whose older brother Anthony also kicked for Kansas State.

”I didn’t know how to react,” Cantele said. ”Someone hit me from behind and I fell to the ground, and I just started beating the crap out of the ground. I didn’t know what else to do.”

Kansas State (6-4, 4-3 Big 12) was flagged for excessive celebration when several players ran off the bench. But the 15-yard penalty didn’t matter. TCU (4-7, 2-6) couldn’t do anything with the ensuing kickoff as Kansas State wrapped up its fourth straight win.

”The bottom line is we didn’t play nearly as well as I’d like us to play,” Kansas State coach Bill Snyder said, ”but we played well enough to win.”

Just barely, though. The Wildcats squandered a 17-7 halftime lead, and then watched as the Horned Frogs’ Jaden Oberkrom hit a 56-yard field goal to give TCU a 31-30 lead with 2:13 left.

Kansas State took over and Jake Waters deftly marched his team down field, hitting Tyler Lockett for 12 yards to convert a third down, and then hitting him again for 8 more yards. That was enough to get Cantele within range of the go-ahead field goal.

”It was just a great ballgame,” TCU coach Gary Patterson said.

Not such a great return to his alma mater. Patterson grew up in tiny Rozel, Kan., and played for the Wildcats from 1980-81. He said he hadn’t been back in years.

The stinging defeat left his team ineligible for a bowl game for the first time since 2004.

”This is only the second time in 16 years that we haven’t been to a bowl game,” Patterson said. ”We’ve got two weeks and we’ve got an opportunity to play a Baylor team at home. It won’t be a bowl game, so the Baylor game will have to be our bowl game.”

The Wildcats jumped out to an early lead when Daniel Sams, alternating with Waters at quarterback, scooted 11 yards for a touchdown. A few minutes later, Waters hit Lockett – who had beaten All-American cornerback Jason Verrett – with a 74-yard touchdown pass.

TCU finally got going when B.J. Catalon left Kansas State safety Dante Barnett grasping for air on a 15-yard TD run. But the Wildcats answered Cantele’s field-goal for a 17-7 halftime lead.

The Horned Frogs pulled ahead in the second half when Trevone Boykin hit Josh Dotson in the back of the end zone from a yard out. After a fumble by Sams, Boykin carried around the left side on fourth-and-1 from the Kansas State 7 for a touchdown and a 21-17 lead.

In a game of wild momentum swings, Kansas State quickly took it back.

On third-and-14 from the Wildcats’ 21-yard line, Waters took advantage of time in the pocket to hit Tramaine Thompson in broken coverage. He out-ran safety Elisha Olabode to the end zone for a 24-21 lead – the 79-yard scoring strike the longest for Kansas State since 2005.

Back came the Horned Frogs, who went after backup safety Dylan Schellenberg, pressed into duty after an injury to Ty Zimmerman. David Porter ran past Schellenberg and caught Pachall’s 51-yard touchdown pass to give TCU a 28-24 lead late in the third quarter.

Cantele added a field goal to pull within a point, and then Kansas State took advantage of a bizarre penalty to take the lead in the fourth quarter. The Horned Frogs were whistled for having two players wearing No. 2 on the field during a punt, giving Kansas State a fourth-and-1, which they converted for a first down. The drive ended with Cantele kicking a 23-yard field goal for a 30-28 lead.

”It’s the first time where that’s ever happened,” Patterson said of the penalty.

The Horned Frogs marched to the Kansas State 39 on their ensuing possession, but defensive end Alauna Finau got his hand on Pachall’s pass on third-and-5. Patterson decided to send Oberkrom onto the field rather than punt, and his 56-yard field goal had a few yards to spare.

It turned out, though, that the Horned Frogs left too much time on the clock.

”After the field goal, I had a lot of faith in our defense,” Pachall said. ”But we really shouldn’t have put them in that situation and put all of the pressure on them.”

— Associated Press —

Northwest Missouri State women drop home opener to Truman

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Northwest2013riggertThe Northwest Missouri State women’s basketball team fell in their home opener Saturday at the Winstead-Reeves Classic to Truman State, 91-71.

It was an up and down first half for the Bearcats as they posted a two point lead then fell behind by as many as 11, but battled back to go into halftime down by four, 50-46.

Northwest outscored TSU down low in the first half putting up 24 four points in the paint compared to Truman’s 18.

Northwest was playing catchup the entire second half being down by as few as one point, but they never regained the lead falling to the Bulldogs 91-71.

The Bearcats had three players end the game with double digit point totals as Ashleigh Nelson led the way with 18 points, three assists and two rebounds. Nelson was also 6 for 8 from the free throw line.

Northwest moves their season record to 0-2 and will be in action at Bearcat Arena again on Sunday. The Bearcats will take on William Jewell in the final game of the Winstead-Reeves Classic with tip-off scheduled for 3:30 p.m.

— Northwest Sports Information —

Jayhawks defeat West Virginia to snap Big 12 skid at 27 games

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KULAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) — James Sims rushed for 211 yards and three touchdowns and Kansas snapped a 27-game Big 12 losing streak Saturday with a 31-19 victory over West Virginia.

Thousands of fans stormed onto the field embracing players and coaches and eventually tearing down the south goalpost.

Sims, who recorded a career-high on 22 carries, broke runs of 62 and 68 yards while Kansas (3-7, 1-6 Big 12) ended a Big 12 drought that had lasted more than three years. Winds gusting near 50 MPH kept plastic bags and autumn leaves tumbling across the field as the sparse crowd witnessed Kansas’ first conference victory since a come-from-behind win over Colorado on Nov. 6, 2010.

It was just the second Big 12 win in 40 games for the Jayhawks, who had fired two coaches and plunged back into deep mediocrity after winning the 2008 Orange Bowl.

West Virginia (4-7, 2-6), which wasn’t even a Big 12 member when Kansas notched its previous conference win, took a 7-0 lead on its first possession, a long drive against the wind. But the Mountaineers were unable to generate anything more until two meaningless touchdowns with less than 5 minutes to play.

The Jayhawks, who came into the game 117th in the NCAA in total offense and 116th in scoring, rushed for 315 yards against a Mountaineer unit ranked No. 100 in total defense.

With the Jayhawks trailing 7-3 midway through the second period, Sims broke a tackle at the line of scrimmage and fled 62 yards down the sideline to the 10. A minute later, he went over from the 3. Then with 28 seconds left in the first half, the 6-0, 200-pound senior bolted through a big hole and went 68 yards virtually untouched, giving him 14 100-yard rushing days, No 2 on the school’s all-time charts. At 17-7, the Jayhawks had their first halftime lead since the season opener.

When Sims powered his way into the end zone from three yards out to make it 24-7 following a West Virginia turnover in the third period, it was Kansas’ biggest lead over an FBS opponent since mounting a 21-point advantage against Baylor in 2011.

Paul Millard was for 23 for 42 for 242 yards and two touchdowns in his third start for the Mountaineers but also threw two disastrous interceptions.

On a first down from the Kansas 30, he fired the ball right into the arms of Ben Goodman standing near the line of scrimmage. Goodman rambled 54 yards until Millard pushed him out at the 14. After Montell Cozart went around right end for 7 yards, Sims scored his third TD. Then Ben Heeney intercepted Millard’s pass in the fourth quarter and returned it 28 yards to the 1, setting up Brandon Bourbon’s touchdown plunge.

The Mountaineers, who were making their first trip to Lawrence, drove 75 yards with their first possession and scored on Charles Sims’ 12-yard catch-and-run from Millard. Millard threw a 3-yard touchdown to Kevin White with less than 5 minutes to play. With 28 seconds left, Charles Sims scored on a 6-yard run for the Mountaineers.

— Associated Press —

Kansas signs Cliff Alexander to National Letter of Intent

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KUKansas men’s basketball coach Bill Self announced that power forward Cliff Alexander from Curie High School in Chicago has signed a National Letter of Intent to play for the Jayhawks.

“We are so excited about Cliff,” Self said. “Since (assistant coach) Jerrance Howard has been on board, he has done a great job in recruiting both Cliff and his family. Cliff comes from an excellent high school program and has been well coached by Mike Oliver his entire high school career. Mike has been one of the longest tenured coaches in the Chicago area and has produced a several of great prospects like Cliff.”

Ranked No. 3 by ESPN100 and No. 4 by Rivals.com, Alexander averaged 21.3 points, 13.0 rebounds and 5.0 blocks his junior year for Oliver at Curie High School where he earned all-state first-team honors following the 2012-13 season. Other Chicago Jayhawks who have played for Self while at Kansas include All-American Sherron Collins, Julian Wright, Mario Little and current forward Jamari Traylor.

“Cliff comes here from a long line of great ones from Chicago and has as much potential as anybody in the class,” Self said. “At 6-foot-8, he can play on the block and he can play behind the arc. He can play in between, but the biggest thing he can do is rebound the ball. He’ll remind our fans of a Thomas Robinson going after the ball rebounding.”

Alexander joins wing/forward Kelly Oubre on the fall 2013 signing class. Oubre, who signed his NLI with Kansas on Nov. 13, is ranked as the No. 10 overall player in the class of 2014.

“The combination of Cliff and Kelly Oubre gives us what we feel are two of the top players in our class and is a great momentum boost going forward this season knowing we’ll have some real good players waiting to get here next year,” Self said.

Alexander, who plays for the Mac Irvin Fire AAU program under coach Mike Irvin, chose Kansas over Memphis, Michigan State, Illinois and DePaul. He

— KU Sports Information —

Colbert, Devers lead Missouri Western to 78-55 win over William Jewell

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MWSUMissouri Western opened up the Hillyard Classic Friday night with a big victory over William Jewell, winning 78-55.

The Griffons dominated in the first half as they were led by guard Ryan Devers.  The junior helped Western go on a 17-0 run to take an 18-4 lead.

Their double-digit lead fell to five after Kyle Smith put in a trey, but Missouri Western then used a 20-1 run and used to a 42-19 lead at halftime.

William Jewell cut the lead to 12 after a big second-half run early. After Cortrez Colbert knocked down a 3, the Cardinals went on an 18-8 lead to make it 56-44 with 8:50 left. The Griffons went back up minutes later.

A 12-0 run in the next three minutes put Missouri Western back up 68-44 lead with 5:39 left on the clock. The run kept the Cardinals at bay for good.

Colbert had a game-high 22 points going 9 of 16 from the field. He was 4 of 5 from the 3-point line.

Devers finished with 18 points with seven field goals on the night. William Jewell was led by D’Vante Mosby, who had 13 points. Jordan Lewis had 12 for the Cardinals.

Missouri Western is now 3-1 and they play No. 13 Midwestern State at 8:30 p.m. Saturday.  The game will air on 680 AM KFEQ.

— MWSU Sports Information —

Lafayette’s Kurth signs to play basketball at Northwest Missouri State

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NWMSUNorthwest Missouri State head men’s basketball coach Ben McCollum has announced the signing of Xavier Kurth to a National Letter of Intent on Friday. Kurth, a senior at Lafayette High School in St. Joseph, Mo., will be a freshman for the Bearcats beginning in the 2014-15 academic year.

“We couldn’t be more excited about adding Xavier to our program,” said McCollum. “He is a tremendous young man that comes from a great family and a great high school program. He is a proven winner and he is an extremely unselfish kid. Xavier has a great feel for the game on the offensive and he is a very solid defender and he will only get better. He is the type of kid we want in our program and we feel he will be a great leader for us down the road.”

Kurth, a 6-2 small forward, was a first-team all-state performer for head coach Chris Neff. He was the St. Joseph News Press Player of the Year in 2013, earning first-team all-district, first-team all-city and first-team Midland Empire Conference honors. As a junior, Kurth averaged 19 points, six rebounds and two assists per game. Healso garnered all tournament honors at the Savannah Tournament and Kearney Tournament as a junior.

“We are also very happy to get another Chris Neff product (senior guard Bryston Williams),” McCollum said. “Coach Neff is one of the best high school coaches in the state and he has had a very impressive run at Lafayette.”

Kurth played AAU basketball for coach Matt Suther with MoKan. He has lettered in basketball every of high school and this year is serving as Student BodyPresident at Lafayette HS. He is undecided on his major.

— NWMSU Sports Information —

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