EVANSVILLE, Indiana – The No. 1-ranked Northwest Missouri State University men’s basketball team dialed it up defensively in a 76-53 triumph over Saint Anselm College to advance to the program’s second NCAA Division II national championship game.

The Bearcats (37-0 overall) limited the Hawks to 38.6 percent shooting from the field and held its second straight opponent to 53 points or less at the Elite Eight. Northwest came into the game ranked No. 3 in the nation in scoring defense at 62.1 points per game allowed (now 61.8 points per game allowed).

Saint Anselm led 27-22 with 4:16 left in the half, when Bearcat redshirt freshman Trevor Hudgins took over. After scoring with 5:05 to play, Hudgins scored the next nine points for the Bearcats and gave them a 29-27 lead with :51 left in the half. The squads traded layups in the final minute and the Bearcats were able to take a 31-29 lead at the break on a bucket from junior Kirk Finley.

The Bearcats continued their run into the second half and took a 45-34 lead with 11:40 to play on a basket by senior Joey Witthus. The Witthus field goal concluded a 23-7 run that started that lasted 12:36 from the end of the first half into the second.

Northwest held Saint Anselm to just two made field goals in the opening 8:20 of the second half. Saint Anselm made 10-of-28 shots in the second half, while Northwest drained 18-of-29 field goals. The Bearcats ended up shooting 53.3 percent from the field.

Hudgins carved up the Hawks to the tune of 27 points to go along with six steals. Hudgins had 15 first-half points and ended the game going 12-of-24 from the field.

Freshman Diego Bernard provided a spark off the bench as he reached double figures in scoring at 13 points on 5-of-8 shooting. Bernard also corralled five rebounds and a resounding slam dunk in the second half to give Northwest a 65-45 lead with 4:30 to play in the game.

Junior Ryan Hawkins registered his 11th double-double this season with 14 points and 14 rebounds. Hawkins posted three steals to give him 79 on the year, the third-most in a single season by a Bearcat.

Witthus set the Bearcat single-season scoring mark with 13 points as he surpassed the record set by Justin Pitts (754 points) in 2016-17. Witthus has scored 756 points this season.

Northwest will take on the winner of the Point Loma vs. Southern Indiana national semifinal on Saturday at 2 p.m. in the NCAA Division II national championship game. The game will be shown live on CBS.

Tickets for Saturday’s NCAA Division II national championship are on sale at Ticketmaster.com as well as the Ford Center Box Office. General admission tickets on Ticketmaster.com are available for $16 each, plus fees. For more information on additional pricing, contact the Ford Center Box Office at 1-812-422-1515.

NOTES: Northwest is 3-0 against ranked foes this year … Northwest defeated No. 13 Ferris State (W, 100-86; Nov. 4), No. 13 Southern Nazarene (W, 70-59; March 17) and No. 20 Saint Anselm (W, 76-53; March 28) … Northwest has won 31 consecutive games on neutral floors … the Bearcats remain the nation’s only undefeated team at 37-0 … Northwest is looking to become the fifth undefeated national champion (Findlay – 2008-09; Fort Hays State – 1995-96; Cal State Bakersfield – 1992-93; Evansville – 1964-65) … with its next win, Northwest would tie the NCAA Division II record for wins in a season (Ferris State won 38 in 2017-18) … Northwest has shot 50 percent or better in 22 of its 37 games … the Bearcats have shot 50 percent or better on six road courts and five neutral courts … Northwest is 99-5 over the last three seasons … the Bearcats’s scoring margin is +21.1 this season and the MIAA record for scoring margin in a season is +22.3 set by Missouri State in 1959-60.

— Northwest Athletics —

EVANSVILLE, Indiana – The No. 1-ranked Northwest Missouri State University men’s basketball team advanced to the national semifinals of the NCAA Division II Tournament with a 55-51 victory over the Mercyhurst University Lakers.

Northwest (36-0 overall) advanced to the program’s second ever national semifinal appearance behind a game-high 20 points from redshirt freshman Trevor Hudgins. As the closing second of the first half wound down, Hudgins had three points. However, he drove the length of the floor after a Mercyhurst bucket tied the game at 22 and sank a leaner at the buzzer to give Northwest a 24-22 lead at the break.

The Bearcats largest run of the game continued as the second half got underway. Northwest scored the first five points of the second half and opened up a 29-22 lead to close out the 7-0 spurt. Hudgins made a layup with 10:26 to play to give Northwest its biggest lead of the game at 43-32.

Mercyhurst cut the lead to three at 49-46 on a conventional three-point play from MiyKah McIntosh with :57 seconds left in the game. Following a miss on the front end of a 1-and-1 by Hudgins, Mercyhurst’s Zach McIntire missed a game-tying triple from the corner and Northwest’s Ryan Hawkins secured the rebound with :27 ticks to play. Hudgins was fouled again but he hit a pair to extend the lead back to five at 51-46 with :17 left.

Tyler Dougherty stepped up and swished two free throws with :11 remaining to give Northwest a seven-point cushion at 53-46. Mercyhurst’s Derrick Ellis Jr. drove for a layup and then Northwest’s Xavier Rhodes answered with a layup of his own before the Lakers’s Ellis buried a triple at the buzzer to give Northwest the 55-51 triumph.

Northwest will play St. Anselm in the national semifinals on Thursday at 6 p.m. St. Anselm scored a 91-81 win over Nova Southeastern in the first quarterfinal.

NOTES: Northwest has won 30 consecutive games on neutral floors … Northwest extended the nation’s longest winning streak to 36 in a row … Northwest set a school record and an MIAA record with 36 wins this season – besting the previous mark of 35 set the by 2016-17 Bearcats … Joey Witthus set the Northwest single-season three-point record with 109 – surging past Zach Schneider’s mark of 108 set in 2016-17 … Witthus has scored 743 points this season – only 11 shy of Justin Pitts’s school record of 754 points set in 2016-17.

— Northwest Athletics —

ROLLA, Missouri – The Northwest Missouri State University softball team split a doubleheader with Missouri S&T on Thursday.

Game One
In the first inning, Olivia Daugherty scored on an RBI from Kaitlyn Weis to put the Bearcats up 1-0.

Missouri S&T answered in the bottom of the first also from an RBI tying the game 1-1.

Erin Keeney blasted a two-run homer in the top of the fourth to extend the Bearcat lead 3-1.
Daugherty laced an RBI single to center field allowing Jacee Winn to score in the top of the fifth pushing the lead 4-1.

Missouri S&T scored two more runs in the bottom of the fifth, but it wasn’t enough to catch up to the Bearcats as Weis homered to center field in the top of the seventh. The Bearcats clinched game one, 5-3.

Game Two
Kaitlyn Weis started things off hot for the Bearcats with a three-run homer in the first inning to get an early 3-0 lead.

Missouri S&T scored one run in the bottom of the second and the bottom of the third, cutting the Bearcat lead to 3-2.

Erin Keeney had an RBI in the top of the fifth allowing Weis to score to push the lead to 4-2.

Missouri S&T answered in the bottom of the fifth scoring two runs to tie the game at 4-4.
The game remained tied, pushing into extra innings. Missouri S&T scored on a bases loaded walk to get the win, 5-4.

The Bearcats move to 5-14 overall. They will return home for MIAA doubleheaders Sunday and Monday in Maryville. Northwest will take on Lincoln Sunday beginning at 2 p.m. The Bearcats will then match up with Lindenwood Monday at 1 p.m. and finish up with a non-conference matchup with Rockhurst Tuesday starting at 1 p.m.

NOTES: Kaitlyn Weis leads the squad with a batting average of .431, 23 RBI and 6 home runs.

— Northwest Athletics —

Northwest Missouri State University senior Kevin Schultz has been named the MIAA’s outdoor field athlete of the week.

Schultz (Platte City, Missouri) scored 7,145 points in the decathlon at the Cactus Cup in Kingsville, Texas. Schultz’s score is the highest this season in NCAA Division II and is a provisional qualifying mark.

The 7,145 points set the Northwest school record and is the highest point total in the decathlon among MIAA participants since 2017.

— Northwest Athletics —

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (March 26, 2019) — The National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) announced today the 2019 NABC Coaches’ Division II All-America team. Selected and voted on by member coaches of the NABC in Division II, these student-athletes represent the most outstanding basketball players across America in NCAA Division II.

Northwest Missouri State University senior Joey Witthus (Chanhassen, Minnesota) becomes the third different Bearcat to earn NABC All-America honors. DeShaun Cooper (2014) and Justin Pitts (2017, 2018) are the previous Bearcats to earn NABC All-America status.

Witthus, the MIAA player of the year and most outstanding player at the MIAA tournament, is averaging a team-best 21.5 points per game and shooting 50.8 percent from the field. Witthus has buried an-MIAA high 108 three-pointers, and he is shooting 45.7 percent from beyond the three-point arc. Witthus also leads Northwest in free throws made (157) and is shooting 85.3 percent from the free throw line.

Witthus has scored 731 points this season. He needs 23 more points to equal the Northwest single-season scoring record set by Justin Pitts (754) in 2016-17.

Northwest will take on Mercyhurst at 2:30 p.m. Wednesday at the Ford Center in Evansville, Indiana, in the Elite Eight.

2019 NABC COACHES’ DIVISION II ALL-AMERICA TEAM

Gage Davis, St. Cloud State, 6-4, Senior, Guard, Bolingbrook, Ill.
Jacobo Diaz, IUP, 6-9, Senior, Forward, Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain
Adam Eberhard, Bellarmine, 6-8, Senior, Forward, Evansville, Ind.
Tim Guers, Saint Anselm, 6-3, Senior, Guard, Langhorne, Pa.
Chris Hansen, UCSD, 6-7, Junior, C, Lafayette, Calif.
Amir Hinton, Shaw, 6-5, Junior, Guard, Philadelphia, Pa.
Daulton Hommes, Point Loma Nazarene, 6-8, Junior, Guard, Lynden, Wash.
Ryan Richmond, Bentley, 6-1, Senior, Guard, Toronto, Ont., Canada
Johnathan Lawton, Florida Southern, 6-2, Senior, Guard, Williamstown, N.J.
Kendale McCullum, Lewis, 6-1, Senior, Guard, Elgin, Ill.
Brandon Parker, Francis Marion, 6-3, Senior, Forward, Sumter, S.C.
Ryan Quaid, West Texas A&M, 6-6, Senior, Guard, Fort Collins, Col.
Marquill Smith, West Georgia, 6-4, Senior, Guard, Miami Gardens, Fla.
Ben Sonnefeld, Colorado School of Mines, 6-3, Senior, Guard, Katy, Texas
Shaun Willett, Queens, 6-4, Senior, Forward, Palm Bay, Fla.
Joey Witthus, Northwest Missouri State, 6-7, Senior, Guard, Chanhassen, Minn.

The National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) announced today the 2019 NABC Coaches’ Division II All-District teams and coaches, recognizing the best men’s collegiate basketball student-athletes and coaches in the division.  Selected and voted on by member coaches of the NABC in NCAA Division II, these 88 student-athletes represent the finest basketball players across America.

Northwest Missouri State University head coach Ben McCollum earned central region coach of the year honors after guiding the Bearcats to their sixth straight MIAA regular season title and fourth straight MIAA tournament crown.

Senior Joey Witthus (Chanhassen, Minnesota) and redshirt freshman Trevor Hudgins (Manhattan, Kansas) were each named to the central region first team.

Central
First Team                                                                          Second Team
Kevin Buckingham, Southeastern Oklahoma              Javion Blake, Washburn
Ryan Bruggeman, Southwest Minnesota State           Brandon Myer, UM Duluth
Gage Davis, St. Cloud State                                             Harrison Cleary, UM Crookston
Trevor Hudgins, Northwest Missouri State                 Jhonathan Dunn, Southern Nazarene
Cam Martin, Missouri Southern State                          Ian Smith, Northern State
Joey Witthus, Northwest Missouri State

Coach of the Year: Ben McCollum, Northwest Missouri State

JOPLIN, Missouri – Northwest Missouri State split a doubleheader against No. 10-ranked Missouri Southern on Sunday.

Northwest (11-14 overall, 7-8 MIAA) took the opener, 6-3, but the Lions bounced back with a 16-7 triumph in the nightcap.

GAME ONE
Northwest scored three runs in the second. Senior catcher Alixon Herrera led off the inning by drawing a walk. Junior first baseman Connor Quick singled down the third base line. Senior infielder Mondesi Gutierrez reached on a fielder’s choice when his sacrifice bunt attempt turned into an out at third. Senior outfielder Derek Hussey reached on a fielding error and loaded the bases for the Bearcats. The first two runs came when junior infielder Matt Gastner doubled to left center, scoring Gutierrez and Quick. The third run came after senior infielder Logan Rycraft singled and scored Hussey. Northwest left the bases loaded.

Missouri Southern closed the Northwest lead to just one after recording two runs in the fifth.

The Bearcats added one in the sixth and two in the bottom of the seventh to increase their lead to 6-2 over the Lions. Small ball and successful base running assisted Northwest in controlling much of the game.

The Lions rallied to score one more in the top of the eight before being shut down by the Bearcats’ pitching staff in the the ninth.

Junior pitcher Quintin Van Ackeren got his team-leading third win of the season, going seven full innings while giving up three runs on six hits and adding four strikeouts.

Senior Trevor Dudar notched his fifth save on the season for the Bearcats.

GAME TWO
During the first inning, both squads got off to a hot start combining to score five runs. Heading into the second, Missouri Southern controlled a one-run lead over Northwest, 3-2.

After a three-up, three-down second inning, the Bearcats notched two more runs in the bottom of third after Quick tripled to right field, scoring junior infielder Calvin Rudolph and Herrera and took the lead over the Lions, 4-3.

Missouri Southern added two of its own in the top of the fourth after a two-run homer to left by senior outfielder Mike Million. The Lions retook the lead, 5-4.

Northwest bounced back in the home half of the fourth scoring one run and tying the game at 5-5.

The Lions would go on to plate three runs in the fifth, one in the sixth, four in the seventh and three in the eight to take a commanding lead over the Bearcats. Northwest would score two runs to counter in the seventh, but it just wasn’t enough to stop the Missouri Southern offense.

Northwest falls to 11-14 overall and 7-8 in MIAA play.

NOTES: Herrera extended his hitting streak to six games…junior first baseman Conner Quick and Herrera extend their team-leading on-base streaks to nine games apiece.

— Northwest Athletics —

JOPLIN, Missouri – Northwest Missouri State held the No. 10-ranked Missouri Southern Lions to three hits but could not overcome 13 walks in a 7-6 loss on Friday night.

Missouri Southern broke a scoreless tie in the fifth, scoring three runs. The Lions drew five walks during the inning while not recording a hit.

Northwest got on the scoreboard in the bottom of the sixth, plating two. Sophomore infielder Peter Carlson ignited the Bearcats’ bats, hitting a double to left field. Carlson scored when senior outfielder Derek Hussey slapped a single down the right field line and then advanced to second base on the throw. Hussey scored on an error during senior catcher Alixon Herrera’s at bat.

Missouri Southern answered in the top of the seventh, scoring four more and took a commanding 7-2 lead over the Bearcats.

Both teams came up scoreless in the eighth and the game entered the ninth inning favoring the Lions. Northwest pitching held Missouri Southern scoreless in the top of ninth and the Bearcats needed to make up five runs to extend the contest or six to win game one of the three-game series.

In the ninth, Northwest scored four runs on two hits and left two stranded in the game one loss to the Lions.

Six Northwest pitchers saw the mound during the game including sophomore Max Spitzmiller, freshman Gibson Brown, junior Ethan Griswold, freshman Max Ross, senior Jarret Cronin and sophomore Aaron Easley. Northwest pitching walked 13 Missouri Southern batters during the game, ultimately the deciding factor for the Lions.

Northwest falls to 10-13 overall and 6-7 in MIAA play.

The Bearcats will be back in action against Missouri Southern Saturday with first pitch scheduled for noon. The original start time was moved up due to expected rain later in the day.

NOTES: Herrera extended his hitting streak to four games…junior first baseman Conner Quick and Herrera extend their team-leading on-base streaks to seven games apiece

— Northwest Athletics —