By David Boyce

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. – Instead of cracking when it faced a breaking moment early in the second half, Northwest Missouri State found the mental toughness to quickly turn the momentum back in its favor.

The combination of refusing to surrender to the pressure Lincoln Memorial applied and tenacious defense led Northwest to a 79-67 victory over the Railsplitters Thursday evening in the semifinals of the NCAA Division II Men’s Basketball Championship.

Lincoln Memorial, which played in the national championship game last season, finished the year 30-6.

“Lincoln Memorial has been here twice the last two years,” said Northwest coach Ben McCollum. “It says a lot about them and how well-coached they are. They were tough to defend and very difficult to score on.

“It was definitely a fun game. The difference was the second half we went to some different actions. Those actions we haven’t gone to this year. They worked. We were able to get some open looks and some layups. And throughout the game, we kept them off the offensive boards.”

Northwest, 34-1, will face Fairmont State. 34-2, at 2 p.m. CT Saturday at the Sanford Pentagon.

“I think it means a lot for the program because we worked so hard in preseason,” said Northwest junior Justin Pitts, who finished with a game-high 30 points. “Obviously, this was one of our biggest goals. As a team, we are just so happy we get to play for a national championship.”

Two minutes into the second half, Northwest was in trouble. Lincoln Memorial built a 40-34 lead, its biggest of the game.

Sensing the danger the Bearcats faced, McCollum called timeout. Northwest scored the next seven points to take a 41-40 lead. More importantly, it got the Bearcats back on track.

“You could kind of feel that momentum shift,” McCollum said. “I wanted to make sure I got the timeout quick enough. I think sometimes you make the mistake of waiting a little bit too long. Fortunately, we stopped it.

“I would like to say it was good coaching, but it wasn’t. The guys stopped doing the bad stuff. And then they started doing the good stuff again.”

Over the next 7 minutes, the lead changed eight times. Northwest didn’t take the lead for good until senior Zach Schneider hit his third three-pointer of the half that put Northwest ahead 51-49.

“He is a difficult player to defend because it requires so much concentration,” McCollum said. “When he gets going, it becomes that much more difficult. He is a senior. He is playing like a senior should. He is making the most out of his opportunities. That is what he did tonight. He stepped up and hit four big shots.”

An inside basket by senior D’Vante Mosby followed by a bucket by Pitts solidified the Bearcats’ lead at 55-49.

Twice Lincoln Memorial closed to two at 55-53 and then at 57-55. Northwest scored the next seven points. The key basket was a three-pointer by junior Xavier Kurth, which pushed Northwest’s lead to 64-55.

“Obviously, that shot was a backbreaker,” McCollum said. “The big thing for him was once he got on No. 20 (Luquon Choice), I don’t think 20 scored much if any after that,” McCollum said. “I think that was a huge difference in the game.”

Indeed. Choice scored 12 in the first half and finished with 17.

The dagger from Northwest came with 3:05 left when Schneider floated out beyond the NBA three-point arc and drilled his fourth trey of the half that gave Northwest a 68-57 lead.

In the first half, very little separated the two teams. Lincoln Memorial took a 33-32 lead into halftime because it basically had the ball last. Freshman Deshawn Patterson made two free throws with 1.8 seconds left to give the Railsplitters the one-point lead.

The game started well for Northwest. The Bearcats jumped to a 14-4 lead. But Choice quickly got his team on track with a three-pointer.

Within a few minutes, Lincoln Memorial closed to one at 16-15 and then forged its first tie since it was 2-2 at 25-25. From that point on, there were four lead changes and two ties.

— Northwest Athletics —

By David Boyce

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. – In reaching its first ever Final Four in NCAA Division II, Northwest Missouri State made some remarkable plays in its 79-70 victory over St. Thomas Aquinas College Wednesday evening at the Sanford Pentagon.

The Bearcats got a couple of two-point field goals from senior Zach Schneider in the final 10 minutes when Northwest needed them to stay ahead of the Spartans. Junior Justin Pitts broke his single-season scoring record, going over 700 points for the season. He now has 701 points, eclipsing last year’s mark of 693.

And junior Brett Dougherty made two clutch free throws with 1:47 left to stake Northwest to a 67-61 lead. It all played a role in the Bearcats moving on.

Northwest, 33-1 and the No. 2 seed in the 2017 Elite Eight, will face No. 3 seed Lincoln Memorial at 8:30 p.m. Thursday.

“This is big, obviously,” said Schneider, who finished with 16 points. “We had great fan support tonight. It is going to keep getting bigger. It is a big program win, but we are going to watch the next game and see who we are going to play.”

Although Northwest never trailed in the second half, the Spartans certainly made the Bearcats feel uncomfortable by staying close and utilizing a full-court press that gave Northwest a few problems such as turnovers and using timeouts.

“I think their press bothered us a little bit,” said Pitts, who finished with 26 points. “We got sped up a little bit, but we have been working on it all week in practice. I think we came in well prepared for the press.”

Early in the second half, Northwest finally got a couple of three-pointers to drop from Schneider and Chris-Ebou Ndow and that briefly helped the Bearcats build their first double-digit lead at 41-31.

The Spartans quickly responded by turning up its full-court pressure. They cut the deficit to 43-38 with 14:39 left in the second half.

“They sped us up throughout,” Northwest coach Ben McCollum said. “I thought offensively, we didn’t click for quite a while. We got off to a good start and took care of the ball.

“As the game progressed, they wore us down and we missed shots that I thought could have broken them a little bit.”

With just under 10 minutes left, Northwest held only a 47-45 lead when Schneider drilled a three-pointer.

“It was big. I was 0-for-6 in the first half,” said Schneider, who finished with 16 points. “At halftime, I said I was going down firing. That was my mentality.”

Two minutes after Schneider’s trey, Northwest was clinging to a 52-49 lead when Pitts hit a corner three-pointer and Schneider followed with another corner three-pointer, pushing the Bearcats lead to 58-49 with 6:50 left.

A minute later, Schneider did something rare this season. He came in with only one two-point field goal. Schneider made his second one when he got behind the Spartans’ full-court press and he scored a layup. He was also fouled. The free throw gave Northwest a 61-51 lead.

“I don’t think I had one of those since my freshman year,” Schneider said. “I was open. I made a good read. Anthony Woods made a good pass.”

Aquinas closed to 61-56 and Schneider did it again. He was behind the Spartans press defense and he made another layup, making it 63-56.

Northwest held just a 67-63 lead when Dougherty made an important layup, which was even bigger than his two free throws. Pitts followed with two free throws, increasing Northwest’s lead to 71-63 with a minute left.

“They make those runs and to stop those runs, you can’t miss shots when you get open,” McCollum said. “We couldn’t put them away because we were missing shots.”

On the strength of two three-pointers by Pitts, Northwest jumped to a quick 8-2 lead. The Bearcats surrendered the lead once at 18-16 and then scored the next four for a 20-18 lead.

From that point on, Northwest never trailed again in the first half and went into halftime with a 33-27 lead.

Defense, though, ruled the first half. Northwest shot 43.5 percent, making just 10 of 23 field goals. The Bearcats made it even tougher for Aquinas to score, holding the Spartans to 39.3 percent from the field.

— Northwest Athletics —

The Northwest Missouri State University baseball team earned an 11-1 run rule victory over Nebraska-Kearney on Tuesday afternoon at Bearcat Field in Maryville, Mo.

– Northwest improves to 15-8 on the year and 4-6 in MIAA play with the win. The Lopers drop to 8-15 overall and 1-9 in conference action.

– The game was called in the seventh inning as part of the conference run rule.

– The Bearcats scored in six of the seven innings played on Tuesday.

– Eddy Kraber got the victory, throwing 6.0 innings. He allowed just one run on four hits. He struck out three and issued just one walk.

Key Northwest Statistics
– Northwest scored three runs in the first, one in the second, two in the third, one in the fourth, one in the fifth and three in the seventh. The Lopers’ lone run came in the first.

– The Bearcats had 11 runs on 10 hits while Nebraska-Kearney scored one run on five hits. Neither team had an error.

– James Holler went 3-for-4, scoring a pair of runs while driving in two. He had a double and a home run in the third.

– Garrett Fort was 2-for-5 with two runs scored and two RBIs. He also had a double and led off the game for the Bercats with a home run.

– Logan Rycraft was 1-for-2 with a pair of RBIs. He also drew a walk.

– Ozzie Adams went 1-for-3 with an RBI and two walks.

– Landon Figg went 1-for-4 with a run scored.

– Luke Hassman drew a walk and scored a run.

– Kevin Handzlik was 1-for-3 with a run scored.

– Kolby Greenslade scored once and drove in a run, going 1-for-3 with a double and a walk.

– Jay Hrdlicka scored two runs and drew a walk. He also stole a base.

– Jacob Wagner worked the final inning for Northwest. He allowed just one hit.

– Kraber worked three-up, three-down innings in the second, fifth and sixth frames on the hill.

Key Northwest Innings
– Fort led off the first with a home run to right field. After an out, Figg singled to center and Hassman walked. Holler knocked in a run with a double down the left field line, scoring Figg. Hrdlicka grounded out to second, allowing Hassman to score, making it 3-1 Northwest.

– Greenslade walked to start the second and came around to score two batters later on a Fort groundout. Rycraft laid down a sacrifice bunt in the inning to move Greenslade into scoring position.

– In the third, Holler hit a solo homer to right to make it 5-1. Hrdlicka followed it with a walk and stole second. Greenslade hit a double to center to tack on another run, making it 6-1.

– The fourth inning began with Fort hitting a double to right and taking third on a wild pitch. A passed ball allowed Fort to score from third to make it a 7-1 Bearcat lead.

– Handzlk hit a one out single to left in the fifth and stole second base. He came around to score on a Rycraft single to right.

– Northwest ended the game in the seventh. Holler started the frame with a double down the left field line. Hrdlicka drew a walk and Alixon Herrera drew a walk to load the bases. Rycraft forced in a run by drawing a walk to make it 9-1 and a passed ball allowed another Northwest run to cross the plate making it 10-1. After a strikeout, Adams hit an RBI single to left for the winning run.

Up Next
– Northwest will host Central Missouri this weekend starting on Friday at 3 p.m. at Bearcat Field. The teams will play Saturday at 2 p.m. and Sunday at 1 p.m.
— MWSU Athletics —

The Northwest Missouri State University men’s tennis team knocked off No. 16 ranked Cameron University on Tuesday in Lawton, Okla.

– The Bearcat women fell to the Aggies, 6-3, in road action.

– The No. 12 ranked Bearcat men improve to 8-2, while No. 16 ranked Cameron falls to 8-8.

– Northwest’s women fell to 1-8 on the season while No. 17 Cameron improved to 6-5.

– The men’s victory was head coach Mark Rosewell’s 1,055th of his career.

– Romain Boissinot, Sergi Fontcuberta, Fin Glowick and Aymeric Autones each picked up singles and doubles victories for Northwest.

– The women won two points by forefit and Margaux Jacquet got a victory at No. 5 singles.

Men’s Results
1. Boissinot,Romain (NW) def. Bruno Babic (CAMERON) 4-6, 6-3, 7-6
2. Fontcuberta,Sergi (NW) def. Felipe Oyarzun (CAMERON) 6-4, 6-4
3. Tete,Mauro (NW) def. Mateo Velasco (CAMERON) 6-1, 4-6, 6-1
4. Autones,Aymeric (NW) def. Julien Gutierrez (CAMERON) 6-1, 6-1
5. Glowick,Fin (NW) def. Andres Velasco (CAMERON) 6-1, 6-0
6. Serrano,Jorge (NW) def. Stefam Svicevic (CAMERON) 6-0, 6-0

1. Felipe Oyarzun/Mateo Velasco (CAMERON) def. Tete,Mauro/Serrano,Jorge (NW) 8-6
2. Boissinot,Romain/Fontcuberta,Sergi (NW) def. Andres Velasco/Bruno Babic (CAMERON) 8-1
3. Glowick,Fin/Autones,Aymeric (NW) def. Julien Gutierrez/Keiran President (CAMERON) 8-6

Women’s Results
1. Paula Gutierrez (CAMERON) def. Jarolim,Lorena Rivas (NW) 6-2, 6-2
2. Zhenia Shviadok (CAMERON) def. Kolen,Aniek (NW) 6-4, 6-1
3. Mathilde Thibaudat (CAMERON) def. Teruel,Tania (NW) 6-2, 6-3
4. Samantha Wood (CAMERON) def. Nunez,Irene (NW) 6-3, 7-6
5. Jacquet,Margaux (NW) def. Magdalena Kovinic (CAMERON) 6-4, 6-0
6. Lovig,Tess (NW) def. No player (CAMERON), by forfeit

1. Zhenia Shviadok/Mathilde Thibaudat (CAMERON) def. Teruel,Tania/Souza,Luiza (NW) 9-1
2. Paula Gutierrez/Samantha Wood (CAMERON) def. Kolen,Aniek/Nunez,Irene (NW) 8-5
3. Jacquet,Margaux/Lovig,Tess (NW) def. No player/No player (CAMERON), by default

Up Next
– The Bearcat men will take on Metropolitan State University of Denver at 10 a.m. in Wichita Falls, Texas. The women will head to Hays, Kan. to face Fort Hays State in an MIAA contest.

— Northwest Athletics —