The Northwest Missouri State University men’s basketball team fell to Missouri Southern, 83-77, on Thursday evening at the Leggett and Platt Center in Joplin, Mo.

The Bearcats fall to 12-1 on the year and 4-1 in MIAA play. The Lions improve to 8-6 overall and 3-2 in conference action.

Justin Pitts scored a game-high 31 points, going 8-for-8 from the charity stripe with three assists and three rebounds.

In the first half, Pitts broke the Northwest career field goals made record with his second bucket.

Key Northwest Statistics
– Northwest shot 51.9 percent from the field (28-for-54) and connected on 12-of-16 (75 percent) from the free throw line.

– The Bearcats had 34 points in the paint to the Lions’ 26.

– Brett Dougherty had 13 points on 6-of-10 shooting. He had three rebounds, two assists and a steal.

– Joey Witthus had 12 points with three rebounds. He hit a pair of three pointers and added an assist.

– Chris-Ebou Ndow recorded his third double-double of the year, scoring 12 points with a game-best 10 rebounds.

Up Next
– Northwest will head to Pittsburg, Kan., to face Pittsburg State at 3:30 p.m. on Saturday afternoon.

— Northwest Athletics —

The Northwest Missouri State University women’s basketball team fell to Missouri Southern, 90-73, on Thursday evening at the Leggett and Platt Center in Joplin, Mo.

The Bearcats fall to 1-12 on the season and 0-5 in MIAA play. The Lions improve to 6-7 overall and 3-2 in conference action.

Jaelyn Haggard had a team-high 21 points with four three pointers. She added three assists and a steal.

Tanya Meyer added 20 points with a team-best eight rebounds. She hit three from beyond the arc and had two assists.

Key Northwest Statistics
– Northwest hit 12 three pointers to Missouri Southern’s six long range makes.

– The Bearcats had 16 assists on the day with six players recording at least two.

– Northwest committed a season-low 10 turnovers and forced 10 Missouri Southern miscues.

– Six different players for the Bearcats had multi-rebound games.

– Kaylani Maiava had a season-best 11 points with six rebounds and a blocked shot.

– Kylie Coleman also scored a season-high 11 points and tied her career-high with three rebounds. She had three assists and three three-pointers.

Key Northwest Sequence
– Trailing midway through the fourth quarter, the Bearcats put together an 11-0 run to pull the game back to within 10. Haggard and Maiava hit back-to-back layups to make it an 80-63 game. Mallory McConkey added a pair of free throws and Haggard knocked down fourth three pointer fo the game to make it a 12-point game, 80-68. After a defensive stop, Haggard found Maiava near the top of the key and the junior knocked down the jumper to complete the 11-point Northwest run.

Up Next
– Northwest will head to Pittsburg, Kan., to face Pittsburg State at 1:30 p.m. on Saturday afternoon.

— Northwest Athletics —

The Northwest Missouri State University men’s basketball team defeated Simpson College on Saturday, 85-53, at Bearcat Arena, in Maryville, Mo.

Northwest improves to 12-0 on the season in the team’s final non-conference game. The game was played as an exhibition for Simpson who is 5-6 on the season.

Five different Bearcats scored in double figures as Northwest shot 62.7 percent from the field.

The win pushes the Bearcats’ home winning streak to 43 games and the overall win streak to 23 victories.

Key Northwest Statistics
– The Bearcats hit 17 three pointers and outrebounded the storm 32-20. Northwest forced 15 Simpson College turnovers and had five blocked shots.
– The game featured just seven fouls and the teams combined to shoot 12 free throws.
– Ryan Welty hit six three pointers to finish with 18 points and four rebounds. He added three steals.
– Ryan Hawkins tied a career high with 11 points. He hit a pair of three pointers, grabbed four rebounds, had a steal, a block and added an assist.
– Brett Dougherty went a perfect 6-for-6 from the field, finishing with 14 points. He tied a career-high with six assists and grabbed three rebounds.
– Justin Pitts finished with 13 points and five assists. He hit three three-pointers and added a steal.
– Joey Whittus had 13 points, connecting three times from beyond the arc. He added two assists, a block, a steal and a rebound.
– Chris-Ebou Ndow had a game-high eight rebounds with nine points, one assist and one steal.

Key Northwest Sequences
– Down by two with seven minutes to go in the first half, Northwest went on a 10-0 run to take a lead it would never relinquish. Welty hit a three off a feed from Pitts. Dougherty and Witthus hit back-to-back layups and Welty closed the run with another long range bomb off a pass from Kurth, giving Northwest a 30-22 lead with 4:44 to play.

– With 17:45 left in the second half, Northwest put together another run, this time stringing together a 15-0 stretch. Dougherty hit a layup to make it 45-31. Pitts and Dougherty hit back-to-back three pointers. After Dougherty hit a pair from the line, Welty connected on his fourth three-pointer of the game to make it 56-31. With 14:08 left to play, Dougherty hit another layup to cap the 15-point run.

Up Next
– MIAA play resumes on Thursday, Jan. 4, as Northwest travels to Joplin, Mo., to take on Missouri Southern at 7:30 p.m.

— Northwest Athletics —

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. – Northwest Missouri State University’s Marcus Jones has been listed as a finalist for the Little Rock Touchdown Club and Wright, Lindsey & Jennings LLP’s fifth annual Cliff Harris Award.

This award is presented to the nation’s top small college defensive player representing almost 500 colleges and universities from NCAA Division II, Division III and NAIA colleges. A prestigious selection committee made up of former college and pro football greats will select the winner. In addition to the Cliff Harris Award overall winner, the top vote getter from each division will be announced. Jones is one of 30 NCAA Division II finalists.

As a senior, Jones tied a career-high with 15 passes defended in 2017, leading one of the nation’s top ranked defenses. Earlier this fall, he was named a first team AFCA All-America performer and earned first team All-MIAA honors.

In 12 games this season at corner back, Jones recorded 33 tackles and 5.5 tackles for loss. He had one forced fumble and also recorded an interception. The Bearcat defense finished the season ranked first in points allowed (9.3), total defense (212.8 ypg) and third down conversion percentage defense (19.9 percent).

The Cliff Harris Award winner will be announced on December 23 and honored at the Little Rock Touchdown Club’s annual awards banquet on January 11, 2018.

— Northwest Athletics —

By David Boyce – Northwest Athletics

OWENSBORO, Ky. – In Eastern Kentucky, on a neutral court, the Northwest Missouri State men’s basketball team showed it remains the king of Division II basketball.

The Bearcats, the defending national champions and No. 1-ranked team in the NABC coaches top 25, handed No. 4 Lincoln Memorial its first loss of the season Tuesday evening at Kentucky Wesleyan’s Owensboro Sportcenter.

An impressive display of offense and defense in the first eight minutes of the second half broke open a close game and propelled Northwest to a 70-56 victory. The Bearcats go into the Christmas break with an 11-0 record. Lincoln Memorial dropped to 11-1.

“Like I said before the game, this was really going to test us,” said Northwest senior Chris-Ebou Ndow, who finished with 24 points and 15 rebounds. “It was the biggest test we have had so far. Defensively, we showed we can play with anybody. We can defensively get after anybody. That is a good feeling to have going into Christmas.”

The nonconference game was a rematch of last year’s national semifinals that Northwest won 79-67.

The way the first half ended, it definitely looked like Tuesday’s game was going to be much closer.

Ndow had another idea. He wasted little time helping Northwest increase a four-point halftime lead. He opened the second half with a three-pointer, increasing the Bearcats lead to 35-28.

“We knew we ended the first half really bad and that is not what we wanted to do against a team like that,” Ndow said. “We knew they could get on a run at any time. The fact we let them get on a run at the end of the first was not good.

“Coming out in the second half, we knew we had to turn it up. It was good for me to make some threes and get us going.”

After Lincoln Memorial scored, the Bearcats went on an impressive 12-0 run that started with a three-pointer from senior Justin Pitts that bounced high off the rim, hit the backboard and fell through.

Some luck was definitely on the Bearcats’ side. It was fitting they were wearing their all green jerseys.

“For us, other than Ryan Hawkins bank shot and that shot by Pitts, I think we weren’t too lucky because the rims were tight,” Ndow said.

Ndow followed Pitts’ trey with another three-pointer. Senior Brett Dougherty did a nice fake in the paint and banked in a layup for two more points.

“I just tried to be aggressive,” said Dougherty, who finished with 14 points on seven of 14 shooting. “They weren’t doubling me. We have shooters around me so I have to take advantage of it. That was what I tried to do.”

Ndow followed with a basket in the paint that caused the Railsplitters to call timeout. The run ended with two free throws by Ndow that made it 47-30 with 15 minutes left.

Lincoln Memorial stopped the run with a basket and then the Bearcats revved it back up, scoring 12 straight points, making it 59-32. The banked-in three-pointer by Hawkins completed the 27-4 run to start the second half.

“I thought in the first half we had a chance to really put our foot on their throats and pull away,” Northwest coach Ben McCollum said. “I thought we made some mistakes with some busted coverage and some turnovers and they made a run on us.

“In the second half, we buckled down, especially coming out of the gate. Chris hit some big shots and had 15 rebounds. He is a big-game player. You saw that tonight.”

Everything went well for Northwest. Pitts didn’t shoot the ball well, but his five assists put him No. 1 on the school’s career assist list with 494. The previous record was 492 by Kelvin Parker.

One hot stretch by Northwest in the first half gave the Bearcats a 13-point lead and enough of a cushion to take a 32-28 lead into halftime.

Northwest shot a cool 38 percent from the field in the opening 20 minutes but created enough turnovers to lead most of the half.

Lincoln Memorial took its first lead at 12-11 on two free throws by senior Dorian Pinson. The Railsplitters other lead was 14-13 on a massive dunk by senior Emanuel Terry.

“It is really tough to stop their runs,” Ndow said. “They are a high-scoring team and can get hot anytime. When they got that dunk and got hyped, we knew they could have made a big run. We had to stop the bleeding as soon as possible.”

The dunk didn’t rattle the Bearcats. They regained the lead for good for on two free throws by Ndow.

Those two free throws sparked a 10-0 run that gave Northwest a 23-14 lead with 5:09 remaining in the first half. Northwest junior Joey Witthus scored a couple of baskets during the run.

“It makes it really good for us when Joey hits baskets in the post and that gives you Brett and Joey,” McCollum said. “It gives us a more multi-facet offense.”

After Lincoln Memorial scored, Northwest answered with a three-pointer from Witthus and another three-pointer from Ndow, making it 29-16.

Trailing by 13, the Railsplitters got hot behind the shooting of sophomore Cornelius Taylor. He drilled two straight long three-pointers followed by a two-point field goal to pull Lincoln Memorial to within five at 29-24.

Lincoln Memorial actually shot much better than the Bearcats, hitting 12 of 21 shots for 57 percent. But the Railsplitters attempted 11 fewer shots.

“This win was huge,” Dougherty said. “A few years ago, we kind of went to Christmas too early, which is easy to do if you start looking ahead to it. A big game like this right before Christmas was nice. Defensively, we believe we can bring a lot to the table. I think we showed that tonight.”

— Northwest Athletics —

By David Boyce – Northwest Athletics

LEBANON, Ill. – A basket by freshmen Mallory McConkey midway through the fourth quarter pulled Northwest Missouri State’s women’s basketball team into a 63-63 tie against McKendree Monday evening at Harry Statham Sports Center.

A three-point answer by McKendree put a damper on the rest of the game for the Bearcats. Northwest managed just two more points and that led to a 72-65 loss.

“I thought at times our effort was very good,” Northwest coach Buck Scheel said. “We were able to push the ball up the floor and get some good transition buckets.

“But then we turn around and have a couple of turnovers here and there and took some bad shots. Those little things add up.”

The Bearcats gave a gritty effort on the road. Northwest trailed 59-53 early in the fourth quarter and fought back, scoring eight of the next 10 points.

During the 8-2 run, Northwest got baskets from junior Maria Dentlinger, a three-pointer from freshman Jaelyn Haggard and a three-pointer from junior Kaylani Maiava that made it 61-61 with 5:25 left in the game.

Unfortunately, the nice offensive flow the Bearcats showed in the first half and much of the third quarter left Northwest in the final 4 minutes.

In the third quarter, Northwest and McKendree went back and forth. McKendree took a 37-36 lead to start the second half. Northwest went right back in front on a four-point play by junior Mallory McAndrews that put the Bearcats ahead 40-37.

The rest of the third quarter went exactly like that. There were 13 lead changes in the third quarter. But when the quarter ended, McKendree held a 57-53 lead.

The first half was similar except Northwest did build a nine-point lead early in the second quarter but let it slip away.

Still, Northwest put together its best first half on the road and took a slim 36-35 lead into halftime. The Bearcats did numerous things right to gain the slight advantage.

“One of the things I talked about first in the locker room after the game is when that effort is there and there all the time, good things can happen.”

Junior Macy Williams provided a big spark midway through the first quarter when Northwest fell behind 10-4. Consecutive field goals by Williams quickly pulled Northwest to within two points.

Trailing 19-17 late in the first quarter, Williams drilled a three-pointer that gave the Bearcats their first lead at 20-19. It was Williams’ ninth point in the first quarter.

Williams finished the first quarter with an assist that set up a three-point bucket by senior Mia Stillman. The trey sent the Bearcats into the second quarter with a 23-19 lead.

Northwest continued to ride the momentum. Senior Tanya Meyer drained a three-pointer and freshman Kylie Coleman stole a pass and drove the length of the court for a layup, giving the Bearcats a 28-19 lead and forcing a timeout by McKendree.

McKendree regrouped from the Bearcats’ 14-1 run and slowly pulled closer. McKendree eventually retook the lead at 33-32.

Undaunted by the lead change, Northwest answered with a basket by Haggard and solidified the lead when Haggard made a nice bounce pass that led to a Stillman layup.

The strong passing by the Bearcats helped them shoot 56 percent from the field in the first half.

“Tonight, throughout the game, I was very pleased with our effort,” Scheel said.

— Northwest Athletics —

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Northwest Missouri State University men’s basketball senior Justin Pitts has been named the MIAA Athlete of the Week for the second time this season. He averaged 26.5 points and 5.5 assists in two Bearcat conference victories last week.

Pitts started the week with a 24 point, four assist performance at Missouri Western. He was 8-of-10 from the charity stripe and connected on 7-of-16 shots. On Sunday, Pitts scored 29 points with seven assists, three steals and two rebounds. He shot 84.6 percent (11-of-13) from the field and was 4-of-6 (66.7 percent) from beyond the arc.

Pitts was also earned the conference’s weekly honor back on Nov. 13 in the first week of the 2017-18 season.

— Northwest Athletics —

By David Boyce – Northwest Athletics

WARRENSBURG, Mo. – A smothering defense and a patient offense in the first half fueled Northwest Missouri State’s men’s basketball team to a huge halftime lead and an easy 79-55 victory at Central Missouri Sunday evening at the Multipurpose Building.

“It is always tough to win here,” said Pitts, who finished with 29 points on 11-of-13 shooting from the field. “I think we came out ready to play on the defensive end and that sparks the energy on the offensive end. Everybody was making shots.”

An offensive rebound and put-back dunk by sophomore Ryan Welty with 10 minutes left basically sealed Northwest’s 10th victory of the season. The play gave Northwest a 61-37 lead.

“It was pretty cool,” said Welty, who finished with 11 points. “My teammates loved it. I don’t think they thought I had it in me. It was good to show them I have hops.”

Senior Chris-Ebou Ndow was one player who had doubts about Welty’s hops.

“I was surprised,” Ndow said. “I don’t think he got too far off the ground.”

It is easy to have a laugh when you beat a rival in a conference road game by 24 points

Northwest, ranked No. 1 in the NABC coaches top 25, improved to 10-0 overall and 4-0 in the MIAA. Central Missouri dropped to 7-2 and 0-1.

The Bearcats started the second half with an 18-point lead and never allowed Central Missouri to build momentum and get its home crowd into the game.

Central Missouri scored the first point in the second half. Northwest answered with a three-point play from Ndow, who was able to celebrate his birthday with a victory and 12 points.

“I just wanted to have a nice easy birthday win,” Ndow said.

And it was easy.

After the Mules scored another point, Northwest junior Joey Witthus hit a three-pointer and then knocked down two free throws, putting the Bearcats ahead 48-24.

The Mules made one little run and closed to 50-34. Northwest responded with seven straight points on a basket by Pitts, a three-pointer by Ndow and a basket by senior Xavier Kurth.

“Obviously, from the outside looking in it looked like we had control the whole time,” Ndow said. “The biggest thing was stopping the bleeding. They are a really good team. They could have got on a run at any point.”

Truthfully, this was the third time in four conference games that Northwest put the game away before halftime.

The only area the Bearcats lost in the first half was at the free throw line. Central Missouri went 10 for 11 from the line compared to 1 for 1 for Northwest. It doesn’t take proficiency in calculus to figure that is a nine-point difference.

However, Northwest still went into halftime with a commanding 40-22 lead. How does that add up? Well, the Mules made just six baskets from the field. The Bearcats went nine for 16 from three-point range. That pretty much sums it up.

“We guarded the ball really well and stayed in the passing lane,” Welty said. “They didn’t score too much. Most of their points came at the free throw line.”

The only lead Central Missouri held occurred in the opening minute on a two-point field goal. Pitts wasted little time putting the Bearcats ahead with a bucket plus the free throw on the traditional three-point play.

After that, Pitts, a graduate of Blue Springs South, put on a show for his high school coach, Jimmy Cain, who was in attendance. Pitts made another basket and then drilled two-long three-pointers to give the Bearcats an 11-2 lead. Or you can call it an 11-0 Pitts run.

“It means a lot he still shows up to my games,” Pitts said. “He is like a father to me to this day. I always try to go back and make as many games as I can.

The Mules got no closer than five points the rest of the first half.
And when they pulled to 22-17, Northwest put on a clinic in how to score against an aggressive zone.

It started with Pitts passing the ball to Ndow, sprinting along the baseline. Ndow finished with a thunderous dunk. Senior Brett Dougherty followed with a basket and then Welty drilled a baseline three-pointer, making it 29-17 with 4:08 left in the first half.

Central Missouri called timeout.

It briefly worked. The Mules scored the next four points.

No worries.

Northwest spent the final 3 minutes dissecting the Mules’ zone. Pitts and Welty each drilled three-pointers. And at the halftime buzzer, Pitts knocked down a NBA-range three-pointer to give the Bearcats an 18-point halftime advantage.

Northwest shot a blistering 63 percent from the field in the first half while Central Missouri made only 25 percent of its shots.

“I thought activity with our hands sped them up more than they are used to,” Northwest coach Ben McCollum said. “They missed shots, and we were able to get the rebounds. I think our energy and activity was the main thing that helped.

“I like to say it was an elaborate game plan, but we just played hard.”

— Northwest Athletics —

The Northwest Missouri State University women’s basketball team fell to Central Missouri, 77-40, on Saturday at the UCM Multipurpose Center in Warrensburg, Mo.

The Bearcats fall to 1-9 overall and 0-4 in MIAA play. The No. 10 ranked Jennies improve to 6-1 overall and 1-0 in conference action.

Key Northwest Statistics
– The Bearcats blocked four shots and came away with three steals.

– Northwest hit eight three pointers on the day.

– In the fourth quarter, the Bearcats outscored the Jennies, 16-14.

– Mallory McAndrews hit three times from beyond the arc and finished with nine points, two rebounds and one assist.

– Tanya Meyer tied with Maria Dentlinger with a team-high six rebounds. Meyer added nine points and a steal.

– Jaelyn Haggard had seven points and a pair of assists.

Up Next
– Northwest will take on Quincy University on Saturday, Dec. 16, in Quincy, Ill., at 5:30 p.m.

— Northwest Athletics —

By David Boyce – Northwest Athletics

MARYVILLE, Mo. – Like the previous game, Northwest Missouri State’s men’s basketball team basically won Saturday’s contest against Central Oklahoma in the first half.

But in stark contrast to the 15 three-pointers the Bearcats made in the first half Thursday, Northwest used a suffocating defense to smother the Bronchos at Bearcat Arena. It offset the three-for-15 shooting from three-point range in the first half by the Bearcats.

Northwest allowed a paltry 12 points to Central Oklahoma in the first half and carried a 19-point lead into halftime. Although the advantage slipped to 11 on one occasion in the second half, Northwest was never threatened, winning 60-47.

“That was exciting,” said Northwest senior forward Brett Dougherty. “Holding them to 12 points feels pretty good, for sure. That is one thing we have been stressing a lot.”

Dougherty added that coach Ben McCollum wants them to not only play good defense, but play aggressively, being in lanes and being active.

“I think we did a pretty good job of that in the first half,” Dougherty said. “The score was kind of a result of that.”

Central Oklahoma entered the game 6-1 overall and 1-0 in the MIAA. The Bronchos are a good team. But once again Northwest, 8-0 overall and 2-0 in the MIAA, proved its No. 1 ranking in the NABC coaches top 25 is justified.

The Bearcats knew how to respond to the challenge it faced midway through the second half when Central Oklahoma closed to 39-28 on the strength of an 11-3 run by the Bronchos.

Northwest stayed calm. The Bearcats got a basket from senior Chris-Ebou Ndow and then senior Justin Pitts scored. After Central Oklahoma made a free throw, Ndow received a pass from Joey Witthus for a wide-open three and Ndow nailed it.

Less than a minute later, Pitts fed Ndow sprinting down the baseline and that led to a Ndow dunk, making it 50-30. A minute later, Pitts drove and passed to a wide-open Witthus behind the three-point arc and he rattled home a trey to make it 55-32.

“We shouldn’t have let them get back into the game,” said Ndow, who finished with 13 points and nine rebounds. “Coach preached at halftime to keep the pedal to the metal like we did in the first half.

“They got on a run. Every good team is going to get a run. We tried to stop the bleeding and the offense came through in the second half and then we started figuring some things out on defense again. We do whatever it takes to win.”

In the first half, the Bearcats proved their success is built on gritty defense. And oh boy, did the Bearcats play some defense in the first 20 minutes.

Northwest limited the Bronchos to a mere five field goals in the first half and that allowed the Bearcats to go into halftime with a healthy 31-12 lead.

“We have a lot of guys who can hit a lot of threes and are versatile,” Dougherty said. “It is on the defensive end that we don’t think we are as good as we can be. We have a lot of length. If we are more aggressive and bring that every single game, I think we can be really good.”

And what about the three-point shooting? Well late in the half, sophomore Ryan Welty drilled a long three-pointer that increased Northwest’s lead to 28-12. The final points in the half was another three-pointer from freshman Ryan Hawkins.

But most of the lead was built on defense. Northwest slowly jumped to a 14-4 lead and maintained a double-digit advantage the rest of the half. When shots weren’t falling for the Bearcats, they made sure Central Oklahoma wasn’t going to score either.

Playing big offensively for the Bearcats was Dougherty, who powered his way inside for three buckets in the paint. His last power move gave Northwest a 23-9 lead.

The hounding defense by Northwest forced 14 turnovers. Meanwhile, the Bearcats only had two turnovers. That discrepancy helped Northwest take 27 shots compared to 18 for the Bronchos.

“The last couple of games we have been really on,” Ndow said. “Offensively, we are fine. We have a lot of different weapons. Defensively, we definitely have something to prove. It is not a question of if we can do it; it’s can we bring it every single night. The last couple of nights we have. We have to keep it going.”

— Northwest Athletics —