MARYVILLE, Mo. – Sharing the basketball is a hallmark for the No. 1-ranked Northwest Missouri State men’s basketball team. But in uncharacteristic fashion, the Bearcats went into halftime with only two assists against Fort Hays State.
This one statistic helped explain why Northwest held a slim three-point lead after the first half.
The Bearcats quickly returned to form at the start of the second half. They scored their first two field goals on assists by junior Justin Pitts. The Bearcats’ basketball world was back in order.
Northwest built a double-digit lead and carried it to an 82-72 victory Saturday afternoon at Bearcat Arena. Northwest improved to 18-0 overall an 10-0 in the MIAA.
“It is just game by game,” said Northwest junior Brett Dougherty about the undefeated start to the season. “We don’t look too far ahead. This week, when we played Nebraska-Kearney, we focused on Kearney. When that game is done, we take it to the next one.
“Coach always preaches that being undefeated is a result, but the way you get there is taking it one step at a time.”
The Bearcats set the tone in the second half when Pitts passed the ball inside to Dougherty for a layup. On the next possession, Pitts hit junior Xavier Kurth in the corner for a three-pointer. The back-to-back field goals gave Northwest a 41-33 lead.
“I think when you are assisting the ball, it is a good sign your offense is doing well and moving it,” said Dougherty, who finished with 10 points. “In the first half, we struggled a little bit with that. In the second half, we did a little bit better.”
Fort Hays, which dropped to 10-7 and 4-5 in the MIAA, kept battling. Northwest held a 45-39 lead with 13 minutes left, and that was when the Bearcats got real separation from the pesky Tigers.
A three-pointer by senior Zach Schneider pushed Northwest’s lead to 48-39. On the next possession, senior Anthony Woods slipped a nice pass inside that Dougherty turned into a reverse layup, making it 50-39.
“That was huge,” said Northwest associate head coach Austin Meyer said. “There wasn’t a lot of flow to the game.”
Pitts, who finished with 23 points, followed with two free throws and then scored a two-point field goal off an assist from Schneider. The 14-0 run ended with two free throws from freshman Ryan Welty, making it 59-39.
To the Tigers’ credit, they didn’t quit. They started firing three-pointers and making them. They closed to 70-60 with 5 minutes, 58 seconds left on a three-pointer by Rob Davis.
And with 1:30 left, Northwest held a 72-64 lead. Two free throws by Pitts with 1:04 left put the Bearcats up 74-64.
It was fitting that the last field goal by Northwest came on a nice pass from senior Chris-Ebou Ndow that led to a layup by Woods with 44 seconds remaining that pushed Northwest’s lead back to 10 at 76-66
“We were pleased with our energy and effort most of the game,” Meyer said. “We knew they were a good offensive rebounding team. We didn’t do a good job of blocking out.
“As far as being in the game, and playing hard, we did a good job of that.”
After jumping to a 21-9 lead, Northwest hit the cruise control button and coasted into halftime ahead 36-33 lead.
The Bearcats never trailed in the first half, but after their initial burst, they didn’t quite have the energy they displayed in the second half against Nebraska-Kearney on Thursday.
Early on, it appeared Northwest was going to take a double-digit lead into halftime. Back-to-back three-pointers by Ndow gave the Bearcats a 12-4 lead.
Northwest held a 29-20 lead when the sputtering began. A few times Northwest made great passes to setup a layup, but the layup didn’t fall through the nets.
The Bearcats also lost some focus at the free throw line, missing seven in 20 attempts. Those misses allowed Fort Hays to slowly crawl back into the game.
“We stepped off the peddle a little bit and let them get a chance to come back and they took the chance and played really well,” said Ndow, who finished with 18 points and 10 rebounds. “It wasn’t just us playing bad. They came ready. They really wanted this game and they showed it.”
Fort Hays ended the first half with all the momentum when Trey O’Neil nailed a 30-foot trey with a few seconds on the clock that helped the Tigers close to three.
The focus was definitely there for the Bearcats in the second half. They made all 16 of their free throw attempts.
“I think everybody has the confidence to step up and hit free throws when they are in the game,” Ndow said. “In the second half, we needed some big free throws and everybody stepped up and knocked them down.”
— Northwest Athletics —
