By David Boyce
JOPLIN Mo. – All winning streaks come to an end at some point. It took the 29th MIAA opponent to finally end an amazing run by Northwest Missouri State’s men’s basketball team.
Missouri Southern became the first MIAA team since Jan. 13, 2016 to beat Northwest. The Lions led from start to finish in their 88-71 win over Northwest Saturday afternoon at Leggett & Platt Athletic Center.
“Like Zach Schneider said, we have to come ready to play every day,” said Northwest junior Justin Pitts, who finished with 20 points. “This league is tough. They showed it today.”
It was the first loss of the season for the Bearcats, who dropped to 24-1 overall and 16-1 in the MIAA. Northwest also saw its record-shattering streak of 28 straight MIAA regular-season wins come to an end. The old mark was 19 established in 1931 by Northwest.
“To win 24 games and win 28 games in the league is an unbelievable feat,” Northwest coach Ben McCollum said. “We had an off game as a team and Southern had a good game. Southern played really well.
“The way our kids acted in defeat and congratulated the other team I thought that said a lot about what kind of champions they are. Hopefully we will start our new mission now and a new streak.”
Trailing by six at halftime, Northwest managed to close to three points twice in the opening minutes of the second half. But it simply wasn’t the Bearcats’ day. They had a difficult time sustaining offense.
In addition, Southern was simply playing at a high level offensively, particularly guards CJ Carr, JJ Cratit and Elyjah Clark.
“They made some tough shots. They came out ready and we didn’t and they ended up with a win,” Pitts said.
Every time Northwest made a push, one of those guards came up with a three-pointer or a drive to the basket.
The key point in the second half came with 13:35 left. Northwest trailed 51-45. Cratit scored and after a free throw by Pitts, Cratit made a three-pointer to give Southern a 56-46 lead. The advantage grew even more when Carr nailed a three-pointer and followed that with a driving basket to increase Southern’s lead to 61-46 with 11:02 left.
“We just didn’t come ready to play,” said Schneider, who finished with 15 points. “They played one of their best games of the season. The loss is tough, but we will rebound from it for sure.
“We just got to be ready every day. If you don’t come ready, you will get beat in this league because it is a tough league.”
Northwest simply didn’t have the mojo in the second half to put together a run like it had in the first half.
The Bearcats close out the regular season next week at home, facing Lindenwood on Thursday evening and Lincoln Saturday afternoon.
“Going so long without a loss, this is definitely going to help us in the long run,” Pitts said. “It will teach us we have to come ready every day and can’t take anything for granted. When postseason comes, we have to bring it every day.”
A rare moment struck in the first half for the Bearcats. Northwest went into halftime trailing 38-32.
It could have been worse, much worse. With 9 minutes remaining in the first half, Northwest trailed 30-13. Nothing was going right for the Bearcats and everything was falling for Southern.
In building a 17-point lead, the Lions were shooting 65 percent from the field. Meanwhile, Northwest was missing free throws. At one stretch, the Bearcats missed five straight from the charity strip.
Down 34-21, the Bearcats went on run, scoring the next nine points. The final three came on a three-pointer from senior Schneider to make it 34-30. The Bearcats just couldn’t keep it going.
“It sounds pretty cliché, but hopefully it will wake us up on things we need to improve on,” McCollum said. “And wake me up as well and make sure we are now on a different mission.”
— Northwest Athletics —
