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 —

The Northwest Missouri State women’s basketball team continued their winning ways Saturday as they defeated Nebraska-Kearney 67-56 to open up 2-0 in MIAA play.

The Bearcats kicked off the start of the game with an 11-0 run. The Northwest defense looked great in the first half scoring 11 points off turnovers.

UNK would come within 10 points of the Bearcats in the second half but that would be as close as they would get. Northwest shot 50 percent from the floor and out rebounded UNK 19-13.

Annie Mathews posted her third double-double of the season with 11 rebounds and 13 points. Mathews added two steals and an assist.

Ashleigh Nelson led all Bearcats in scoring with 17. Nelson was also very active on defense recording four steals and two rebounds.

The Bearcats improve their record to 7-2 overall and 2-0 in league play as the win gives Northwest more wins than they had during the 2011-12 season.

Northwest will return to action after finals week to host Midland Lutheran in nonconference action Dec. 17 at 6 p.m. The next MIAA game for the Bearcats will be Jan. 3 as the Bearcats travel to Missouri Southern before a nationally televised game on CBS College Sports Jan. 5 at Pittsburg State.

— NWMSU Sports Information —

Northwest Missouri State men’s basketball team never trailed in its MIAA opener against Lindenwood Wednesday evening at Bearcat Arena.

That must have meant the Bearcats breezed past the conference newcomer. That is a wrong assumption.

Despite an 18-point lead in the second half, Northwest needed overtime to pull out a 73-66 victory.

Defense in overtime keyed the Bearcats seventh win in seven games. Northwest held Lindenwood scoreless in the first four minutes of overtime.

Meanwhile, the Bearcats opened overtime with a three-pointer by senior Alex Sullivan.

Sullivan, who finished with 18 points, said the defense and focus were the reasons Northwest succeeded in overtime.

“Going into OT after 40 minutes of play, everybody is worn down and tired and that’s when everybody needs to lock down and focus, which we did,” Sullivan said.

Offense from two different areas also helped.

Junior Dillon Starzl followed Sullivan’s trey with a turnaround shot in the paint to give Northwest a 65-60 lead.

“I was proud of myself a little bit,” said Starzl, who finished with 13 points. “I got a lucky bounce.”

Although the Bearcats let a huge lead at home slip away, they showed grit by pulling out the win when one of their top players, DeAngelo Hailey, fouled out just before overtime.

Northwest built a 69-63 lead in overtime when Lindenwood made one last push on a three-pointer by Alex Bazzell.

Junior Bryston Williams put the game away with four free throws in the final 30 seconds.

“I knew we would step up and hit free throws late and Bryston stepped up,” Starzl said.

In the first six minutes of the second half, the points were coming a little too easy for the Bearcats. Hailey, who finished with 18, was knocking down three-pointers. Sullivan hit one that gave Northwest a commanding 51-33 lead.

The outcome appeared obvious.

Doubt entered the picture when the Bearcats scored just a point over the next 7 minutes, allowing Lindenwood to creep back in. Northwest lead slipped to 52-42.

The three-pointers stopped falling and evening a couple of layups failed to drop.

“We definitely had a couple of rough rounds when we were missing some shots,” Sullivan. “We need to move on to the next play and not dwell on the misses or turnovers.”

The drought finally stopped for the Bearcats when Kyle Schlake grabbed an offensive rebound off a missed layup and scored. The bucket gave Northwest a 54-42 lead with 7:30 left. Schlake finished with a game-high 10 rebounds.

The 12-point cushion wasn’t enough to prevent Northwest from coasting home.

Lindenwood closed to seven at 54-47 on a three-point by Darris Smith. It was the closest the Lions were to Northwest since the first minute of the second half.

The Bearcats showed they know how to respond to a bit of pressure. Sullivan quickly answered Smith’s trey with a trey.

But Lindenwood would not go away. They wasted little time cutting into a 10-point deficit. A three-pointer by Bazzell helped the Lions close to 59-54 with 2:45 left. Thirty seconds later, Bazzell scored on a layup, shrinking Northwest’s lead to 59-56.

With 12.7 seconds left, Lindenwood forged the first tie of the game at 60-60 on two free throws by Bazzell.

Northwest failed to get a good shot off in the final seconds which forced overtime.

“We need to maintain and not get content when we do have the lead and get comfortable,” Sullivan said. “Once we get them down, we got to keep them down and work on that.”

— NWMSU Sports Information —

Northwest Missouri State women’s basketball team made one subtle change in the opening minutes of the second half and that helped the Bearcats pull away from Lindenwood.

The Bearcats started scoring some easy baskets inside and that turned a close game into 69-40 rout over Lindenwood Wednesday evening at Bearcat Arena in the MIAA opener.

“It is very big, especially with this team,” said senior point guard Ashley Thayer about winning the conference opener. “We weren’t ranked very high. We want to show we are a team to be reckoned with.”

Northwest went into halftime with a slim, two-point advantage. They were infatuated with the three-point shot. It was hard passing up the shot.

“They were daring us to shoot threes,” Northwest coach Mark Kellogg said. “They weren’t even guarding us. We knew if we were going to score in the paint we needed to do it early in the offense.”

Even though three points is worth more than two, it is usually easier to score a few feet away from the basket as opposed to 20 feet, 6 inches.

The Bearcats used that simple logic and pounded the ball inside to sophomore Annie Mathews early in the second half and after a few baskets, everything opened up for Northwest.

“We were everywhere in the first half trying to see what worked,” Thayer said. “When we finally kind of settled in and doing what we were supposed to do and got it in, it worked for us.”

Perhaps, the key moment came with 15:40 left in the second half. The shot clock was clicking down. Thayer drove into the lane and delivered a beautiful bounce pass to Mathews who had an easy layup.

“I’m new at the point guard,” Thayer said. “I have never been a strong driver so I’m working on that. I just have to have the confidence to see the open player and get it to her.”

The play gave Northwest a 34-26 lead and all the momentum. Less than a minute later, Mathews received another nice pass inside. This time she was guard so she kicked it back out to Thayer who was wide open beyond the arc.

“It is playing off each other,” Thayer said. “You have to trust your teammates, knowing you give it to them, they are going to give it back to you. We definitely worked well as a team.”

A three-pointer is an easy shot for college players when it is unguarded. Thayer proved that by drilling the trey that increased the Bearcats lead to 42-28.

Several minutes later, Northwest built a 20-point advantage and was well on its way to winning its sixth game in eight contests. They have already matched their win total of last season.

“It is invaluable. We need every win we can get,” Northwest coach Mark Kellogg said. “I don’t want them to be satisfied either. That is the message I keep telling them.

“Someone came to me today and said if you win you’ve matched last year’s win total. I’m not comparing it to last year. We don’t want six wins. We want 20 wins or more. That is what we are trying to get to here.”

The Bearcats return to action with another conference game at 1:30 p.m. Saturday at Bearcat Arena against Nebraska Kearney. After nine days off, Northwest plays its final game of 2012 at home on Dec. 17 against Midland Lutheran.

“We were talking that this is a mini season before break,” Mathews said. “We want to go out winners. It is easier to go on break as a winner. I think it is a big game, definitely.”

Early in the game against Lindenwood, the Bearcats looked like they could beat Lindenwood with the outside jump shot. Junior guard Monique Stevens started the game with a three-pointer. Northwest held that lead until Lindenwood went in front 7-5.

Northwest didn’t regain the lead again until it was 16-14 on a field goal by Thayer. Lindenwood, though, went back in front because the Bearcats had a hard time getting into an offensive flow. The three-pointers just weren’t falling.

Mathews put Northwest ahead 24-22 late in the first half on an inside bucket and the trend for the second half started to develop.

The Bearcats went into halftime ahead 26-24 and never trailed again.

Mathews finished with 13 points and nine rebounds. Thayer scored 12 points and had four assists and freshman Tember Schechinger added 10.

— NWMSU Sports Information —

Senior Todd Adolf has earned a spot as one of 10 finalists for the 2012 Fred Mitchell Award, honoring the nation’s top non-FBS place kicker that excels on the football field and in the community.

Adolf is the only player from a MIAA team to be nominated and one of five players from NCAA Division II. He was the second leading scorer for Northwest Missouri State in 2012 with 109 points. He was 13-of-16 on field goal attempts and a perfect 70-of-70 on extra point attempts. The Omaha, Neb., native kicked a career long 48-yarder in a win over Fort Hays State.

For his career, Adolf finished making 268-of-272 extra points as his 371 points rank him sixth on the Northwest all-time scoring list. He was also 73 percent on field goal attempts in four seasons connecting on 33-of-45. Adolf has participated each of the last four years in the Bearcats annual ‘Spring Cleanup.’

The Bearcats finished the season 10-3, falling in the second round of the NCAA Division II playoffs. It was the ninth straight trip to the NCAA playoffs for the Bearcats, the longest current streak in NCAA Division II football.

The Fred Mitchell Award, which is provided to the Football Championship Subdivision, Division II, Division III, NAIA or NJCAA place-kicker that excels on the football field and in the community. The place-kicker chosen for this Award will be announced on December 11, and he will be honored on February 18, 2013 at the National Football Foundation Chicago Chapter Awards Ceremony. Details about the Award and the Blue-Ribbon Selection Committee are provided at www.fredmitchellaward.com.

— NWMSU Sports Information —

The Northwest Missouri State men’s basketball team defeated York College (Neb.) 80-69 Saturday to stay perfect in the 2012-13 season.

The Bearcats opened up the first half quick getting out to a 10 point lead just six minutes into the game. York would not go away as they took the lead 33-31 with under four minutes left in the half.

Grant Cozard was 2-2 from the line in the final minute before halftime to put the Bearcats up 37-35.

The Panthers had brought the game within three points at 69-66 when Dillon Starzl came up big with an offensive rebound and put-back to go up 72-66. The Bearcats never looked back as they earned their sixth win of the season.

Dillon Starzl took over in the second half as the junior put in 18 points in the second half along with three rebounds and two blocks. Starzl finished with six rebounds and a team high 24 points.

DeAngelo Hailey was one rebound shy of a double-double but finished with nine boards and 12 points.

This is the second consecutive season the Bearcats have gotten off to a 6-0 start. Northwest opens up MIAA competition Wednesday against Lindenwood (4-1) at Bearcat Arena for a 7:30 p.m. tipoff.

— NWMSU Sports Information —