By David Boyce – Northwest Athletics

MARYVILLE, Mo. – Oh, there was a chance that Northwest Missouri State’s men’s basketball team could have blown an 18-point halftime lead Thursday evening against Lincoln University, a blue moon chance.

After all, the rare blue moon that occurred a couple of days ago, is actually going to happen again in March. If blue moons happened that often, the saying once in a blue moon would have never become a common saying.

Northwest made sure there wasn’t going to be a blue moon occurrence at Bearcat Arena. Northwest was playing too well to have major collapse in the second half. The Bearcats beat Lincoln 76-43 and improved to 18-2 overall and 10-2 in the MIAA.

“It was important to play well in the second half,” said Northwest senior Chris-Ebou Ndow, who finished with 18 points and eight rebounds. “We have a tendency when we have a big lead to relax. We can’t afford that no matter who we are playing. The tournament is right around the corner. We can’t afford to have any slippage at any point in the game.”

By the way, Ndow said he has heard the blue moon saying, but didn’t know what it meant.

“I’m from Norway,” he said.

Freshman Ryan Hawkins knew what once in a blue moon means, but Northwest coach Ben McCollum said he didn’t.

“I know what a red moon means,” McCollum said.

Well, in the first half, the Bearcats were red hot at times.

In building a 45-27 halftime lead, the Bearcats started on fire from three-point range. And in the final 7 minutes of the first half, Northwest played its trademark team basketball and that significantly diminished Lincoln’s slim hopes of pulling off an upset.

Senior Justin Pitts, who finished with 20 points, started off blazing hot. He knocked down two long three-pointers that quickly wiped out Northwest’s only deficit of 5-0. After Pitts’ bombs, Ndow drained a three-pointer, making it 9-5.

The Bearcats’ first five field goals were three-pointers. Northwest then showed Lincoln it can score in the paint. The inside basket came on a thunderous dunk by Ndow that gave the Bearcats a 17-7 lead.

A blowout looked imminent. The Blue Tigers had other ideas. They do have blue in their nickname. Lincoln closed to 23-18, and that was when freshman Ryan Hawkins stabbed the Blue Tigers with a three-point dagger. It signaled that Hawkins was on his game.

From that point on, Northwest played some beautiful team basketball. One play came with the Bearcats up 26-21. Hawkins, cutting to the basket, received a pass from senior Brett Dougherty. Hawkins made a reverse layup.

On the next possession, Hawkins was behind the three-point arc when he received a pass from Pitts. Hawkins drilled a three-pointer, increasing Northwest’s lead to 31-21.

“It is nice being on a team where everybody is unselfish,” said Hawkins, who finished with 13 points and eight rebounds. “We have so many guys who can score the ball so there is no way they can key on five different people. They have to pick and chose and we exploit the mismatches.”

Northwest started to pull away in the final 4 minutes. A NBA-range, rainbow three-pointer by Pitts gave Northwest a 36-25 lead. Hawkins followed with a three-pointer off an assist from Pitts. Next was Ndow who benefitted from a Pitts pass. His two-point field goal increased Northwest’s lead to 41-25. Pitts concluded the 10-0 run with two free throws, making it 43-25.

“We just paid attention to the details,” Ndow said. “We came ready to play, but we didn’t pay attention to the details and the small things in the scouting report. After a timeout, coach told us we weren’t necessarily playing bad; we just had to do the little things to get ourselves on a run. We were able to do that with five minutes left.”

Simply put, the Bearcats gave a clinic on team basketball. Twelve of their 15 field goals came on assists. It was a big reason Northwest shot 50 percent from the field in the first half.

“I think our team shares the ball as good as anybody in the country,” McCollum said. “The thing we get a lot that goes unnoticed is what I call the hockey assist, the pass before the pass that leads to a basket. Our guys share the ball so much. A hockey assist to me is just as important as the statistic assist. I think sometimes assists can be selfish as well because you are trying to gather assists. Our guys it is just an extra pass. They do it naturally. They don’t pay attention to assists at all.”

Pitts and Hawkins led the way in the first half. Pitts went six for nine from the field for 18 points and Hawkins was four for five and had 11 points.

Northwest never allowed Lincoln back in the game in the second half. There was no drama, only a demonstration of how to play with a big lead.

The Bearcats will look to increase their winning streak to four Saturday when they take on Lindenwood at 3:30 p.m. at Bearcat Arena.

— Northwest Athletics —

By David Boyce – Northwest Athletics

MARYVILLE, Mo. – Fresh off its first conference victory of the season, Northwest Missouri State’s women’s basketball team was determined to start a winning streak. Clinging to a one-point lead in the final two minutes, the Bearcats showed grit down the stretch.

And when junior Mallory McAndrews knocked down two free throws with 10 seconds remaining to give Northwest a three-point lead, the confident Bearcats knew they had the necessary cushion for a 61-60 victory over Lincoln University Thursday evening at Bearcat Arena.

“I am honestly proud of this team,” said freshman point guard Jaelyn Haggard, who finished with 11 points. “We are definitely improving. I see a lot of success coming in our future.”

The Bearcats want to keep rolling when they return to action 1:30 p.m. Saturday at home against Lindenwood. Northwest, Missouri Western, Lindenwood and Lincoln are all battling for the final two spots in the MIAA Tournament.

“We were able to build on the last win we had against Mo. West, and hopefully that will keep the energy going on Saturday,” said senior Tanya Meyer, who finished with 27 points and 13 rebounds.

“We want to compete with Lindenwood on Saturday. We are all fighting for the last two spots. Getting this win going into Saturday was big momentum boost for us.”

Northwest appeared to be in control midway through the fourth quarter Meyer hit a three-pointer followed by a two-point bucket by her that pushed the lead to 56-47 for the Bearcats.

In a move of desperation, Lincoln went to a full-court press and it worked. The Blue Tigers created numerous turnovers and turned them into points. Lincoln scored the next 11 and took a 58-56 lead with 3:35 left in the game.

Twenty seconds later, Northwest tied the game on two free throws by Meyer. Neither team could muster any offense in the final 3 minutes.

But Northwest regained the lead with 1:52 left on a three throw by junior Kaylani Maiava.

In the final 90 seconds, Northwest needed to play strong defense as the Blue Tigers had numerous opportunities to go ahead. One of those opportunities came with 28 seconds left. Northwest was clinging to a 59-58 lead. The Bearcats caused Lincoln to take a tough, contested shot in the paint.

The Blue Tigers missed. Maiava grabbed the rebound with 22 seconds left.

“We responded really well with good stops defensively,” Northwest coach Buck Scheel said. “The ball pressure is going to come against us. We just have to get better handling it and continue to go.”

An over-and-back call against Northwest with 20 seconds left forced the Bearcats to play defense one more time with a slim one-point lead.

And the Bearcats succeeded again, getting a steal with 14 seconds left. Four seconds later, McAndrews dropped in the game-winning free throws.

“I thought it was really important that we got stops on defense,” Haggard said. “It was really crucial, especially at the end of the game. The score was so close. Just to be able to come down on defense and hold them to shooting deep threes was really important for us.”

A hot start by Meyer, coupled with some clutching shooting in the second quarter, sent Northwest into halftime with a 37-28 lead.

Meyer scored the first seven points of the game, staking the Bearcats to a nice early lead. When Lincoln closed to 9-6, Northwest quickly regained command on consecutive three-pointers from McAndrews and Meyer.

The Blue Tigers chipped away again and trailed 20-16 after the first quarter. Lincoln tied the game at 22-22 early in the second quarter.

Northwest didn’t allow Lincoln to take a lead. The Bearcats built their lead to five on a basket by Haggard. A few minutes later, Haggard drilled a three-pointer, increasing Northwest’s lead to 33-24. The Bearcats maintained their nine-point advantage the rest of the second quarter.

Meyer led the way for Northwest in the first half, scoring 17 points and pulling down eight rebounds. Haggard added eight points as the Bearcats shot 47 percent from the field.

— Northwest Athletics —