Northwest 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 —

The 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 —

Senior Dillon Starzl had a career-high 27 points but the Northwest Missouri State men’s basketball team fell to No. 13 Midwestern State, 78-71, on Friday evening on the opening day of the Hillyard Tipoff Classic at the Missouri Western Fieldhouse on Friday. Northwest is now 1-2 on the season while Midwestern State improves to 3-0.

Starzl was 8-of-14 from the field and hit 11 of his 13 free throws to lead the Bearcats with 27 points. Last season, Starzl had 25 points against Northeastern State (3/7/13). Bryston Williams had 12 points on the evening. Conner Crooker and Grant Cozad each added 11 points.

The Bearcats held close through the first half and trailed by just five points at the halftime break, 38-33. Northwest opened the second half with a 17-5 run, including a couple of three pointers from Crooker. The lead would grow to as many as 10 with 11:24 remaining in the game on a pair of Starzl free throws, 56-46. But Midwestern State rallied and eventually took the lead back with 2:36 remaining. The Bearcats would get back within two with 25 seconds remaining as Williams hit a pair of free throws. But the Mustangs hit five of their lastseven free throws to pull away for the victory.

Northwest will play William Jewell at 6:30 p.m. tomorrow on the final day of the Hillyard Tipoff Classic.

— NWMSU Sports Information —

The Northwest Missouri State volleyball team came back from two sets down to defeat Southwest Baptist, 3-2, on Friday evening inside Bearcat Arena in the regular season finale. Northwest moves to 12-17 on the season and will now await its seeding for the 2013 MIAA Tournament. Southwest Baptist drops to 17-14 overall. Both teams are now tied at 6-10 in MIAA play.

On senior night, Mackie Keller led the five Northwest players in double-digit kill totals with 15. Brooke Bartosh added 14 kills and Jackie Becker had 13 to go along with three blocks. Abby Graves and Shelby Duren each had 11 kills.Kirsten Hudgens had 37 assists and senior Bridget Hanafin had 23 assists. Libero Bailey Vance had a game-high 28 digs while Duren added 22. Aarika Wittenburg had 12 digs.

After dropping the first two sets, Northwest rebounded from an early third set deficit to force a game four, winning 25-22. In the fourth set, Southwest Baptist drew a couple early ties but never led in the set. Northwest used an 11-5 rally to finish off the set, 25-19, after SBU tied the match at 14-14.

Neither team pulled away early in the fifth set and as the teams traded sides at the midway point, Northwest held a slim lead, 8-7. But a couple timely kills from Bartosh and Becker gave the Bearcats some breathing room to pull away,15-7.

Prior to the match, Keller and Hanafin were honored as part of Senior Day festivities. This will conclude the 2013 Northwest volleyball regular season.

— NWMSU Sports Information —

The Northwest Missouri men’s and women’s tennis teams each earned spots in the final Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) tennis rankings. The Northwest menwere ranked 19th nationally and held the top spot in the central region. The Northwest women were ranked fifth in the central region.

On the men’s side, Northwest had four singles players and two doubles teams represented in the central region rankings. On the singles side, Sergio de Vilchez was ranked third in the region and 29th nationally. Alvaro Riveras was fifth regionally and 45th nationally. Also ranked regionally was Lluis Altimires, who was seventh and Julien Couronne, who was 15th. The doubles team of De Vilchez and Altimires earned the region’s No. 2 ranking and was ranked 21st in the national poll. Riveras and Couronne were ranked 10th in the central region.

The Bearcat women’s team earned a fifth place ranking in the central region. Senior Alexis Bartek was seeded as the region’s No. 20 ranked singles player.

The Bearcats women begin the 2014 spring season against Maryville College in St. Joseph on Feb. 22. The Northwest men’s team will start on March 1 against St. Cloud State (Minn.) in a match that will take place in Grand Island, Neb., at 9 a.m.

— Northwest Sports Information —

Northwest Missouri State defensive end Matt Longacre was named the MIAA Defensive Athlete of the Week on Monday, in an announcement made by the league office. Longacre and the Bearcats defeated Emporia State on Saturday at Welch Stadium, 48-21. This is the second honor for Longacre, who garnered the same award on Sept. 30, following a win over Nebraska-Kearney.

Longacre, a native of Omaha, Neb., had 2.5 sacks and 4.5 tackles for loss on the day. As a whole, Northwest’s defense held Emporia State to just 51 rushing yards, 260 total yards and 21 points.

The win guarantees the Bearcats a share of the MIAA title, the 25th in the program’s history. It also marks the 17th time Northwest has won 10 or moregames in a season.

The MIAA also announced on Sunday that the regular season finale at Missouri Western on Saturday, Nov. 16, has officially been picked up as the TV Game of the Week, and that kickoff has been moved to 2:37 p.m. at Spratt Stadium in St. Joseph, Mo.

— Northwest Sports Information —

The Northwest Missouri State men’s basketball team fell in a road contest to Southwest Minnesota State on Sunday afternoon, 72-50, at the Recreation andActivity Facility in Marshall, Minn. Both Northwest and Southwest Minnesota are 1-1 on the season.

Bryston Williams was the Bearcats’ leading scorer with 14 points on 4-for-7shooting. Dillon Starzl added 11 points. Northwest shot 34 percent from thefield and was 13-for-18 from the charity stripe. Each team committed 13 turnovers.

Northwest held an early five point lead, 15-10, with 12:04 remaining in thefirst half as Williams hit his first of two three pointers. But Southwest Minnesota closed the half on a 23-8 run and headed into the locker room up by 10, 33-23.

In the second half, the Bearcats would pull as close as eight points, 38-30. But another run by the Mustangs pushed the lead out to 23 points, 60-37, with 7:51 left in the half.

Northwest will head to the Hillyard Classic starting on Friday, Nov. 15, in St. Joseph, Mo. The Bearcats will take on Midwestern State on Friday afternoon at 4 p.m. followed by a 6:30 p.m. contest against William Jewell on Sunday.

— Northwest Sports Information —

The Northwest Missouri football team defeated No. 10 ranked Emporia State Hornets on Saturday at Welch Stadium, 48-21. The win moves the No. 2 ranked Bearcats to 10-0 on the season and are now the lone remaining undefeated team in the MIAA at 9-0. Emporia State drops to 8-1 overall and 8-1 in league play.

Northwest got another strong performance from senior quarterback Trevor Adams who passed for 291 yards on 24 completions with five touchdowns. He also recorded the first score of the game on a one-yard rushing touchdown. Jason Jozaites caught three passes, two of which were touchdowns. Bryce Young also had three catches for 88 yards and two scores. Robert Burton, who rushed for a game-high 78 yards, caught the other touchdown from Adams. Senior Billy Creason rushed for 40 yards on 14 carries and had a rushing touchdown.

As a team, Northwest racked up 483 total yards including 318 through the air and 165 on the ground. The Bearcats converted 9-of-17 third downs and were 3-of-4 on fourth down conversions.

Defensively, Northwest held Emporia to 51 rushing yards and 14 first downs. DJ Gnader had a team-best seven tackles and added one sack to go along with an interception. Matt Longacre was constantly in the Emporia State backfield, recording 4.5 tackles for loss including 2.5 sacks. Collin Bevins added three sacks and Brandon Yost recorded half a sack. Travis Manning had three pass breakups in the secondary.

After seeing the first series of the game come to an end on a failed fourth-down conversion on the ESU one yard line, Northwest got a boost from the defense as the Bearcats forced a three and out and then blocked the ensuing punt. Five plays later, Adams rushed it in from one yard out. It took Emporia just four plays as the Hornets went 74 yards down the field to take the lead, 7-6 with 3:59 left in the first quarter.

Late in the second quarter, Northwest struck again, this time on a 17 play, 85 yard drive that ended with a five yard pass from Adams to Jozaites. After forcing another Emporia punt, Northwest struck quickly, going down the field in just three plays as Adams found Bryce Young for a 74 yard touchdown with 1:34 left in the first half to go up, 20-7.

Robert Burton and Bryce Young each caught touchdown passes from Adams in the third quarter as Northwest extended its lead to 34-14. On the Bearcats’ first drive of the fourth quarter, Adams connected with Jozaites for a second time, this one going for 21 yards on a second and 12 to the back right corner of the end zone. Special teams added a second punt block of the day as Zach Maloley got a hand on an Eli Kuhns punt at the ESU 27. Five plays later, Northwest added its final score of the game as Creason found the end zone from two yards out for his 10th rushing score of the season. Emporia State added a 44 yard touchdown pass to close out the game.

The Bearcats have officially clinched at least a share of their 25th MIAA title. Northwest will conclude the 2013 regular season Saturday, Nov. 16, against Missouri Western at Spratt Stadium in St. Joseph, Mo.

— NWMSU Sports Information —