The Northwest Missouri State men's basketball team won in two of the most difficult environments to play in and came out on top in both of them, beating Missouri Southern 69-68 in overtime and then beating Pittsburg State 62-51 in last week's action. The Bearcats came into Saturday afternoon's game tied with Pitt, Washburn and conference newcomer Northeastern State, also with no conference losses. But Northeastern and #8 Washburn both suffered shocking losses against lower division teams and dropped out of first place Saturday. Washburn dug themselves into a 20 point hole on the road against 2-8 Central Oklahoma and could not catch up in the second half, falling by five, 72-67. Northeastern State's fall was even more shocking. Pitted against Kearney State, the very team that the Bearcats beat 90-60 in December action, and playing at home, Northeastern State lost 60-57. They completely outplayed Kearney in nearly every facet of the game except from the free throw line, where Kearney outscored them 17-0 from the line. Northwest is now in first place behind a whole host of teams nipping on their heels in second place. The moral of the story is that there is no weak team in the league; every team except for Emporia State has at least one conference win despite there only being four games in the conference so far.
Last year, Northwest won a showdown on their final game of the year against Southern at home to win the MIAA crown. Thursday's game was every bit as exciting, with Southern missing two chances to win it and Northwest growing up in a major way against the Lions. Pitted against one of the most feared presses in the conference, Northwest only surrendered the ball 14 times while outrebounding Southern 37-30 in the win. Northwest was back to full strength and Southern did not have an answer for Northwest's front line, with Dillon Starzl leading the scoring with 22 points on the strength of 9 for 12 shooting.
Northwest jumped out to an 8-2 lead less than two minutes into the game, but Southern came right back to lead 13-10 at the 15:05 mark. Northwest turned around to take a 28-17 lead with eight minutes left in the half, but frequently, it is very important how you finish halves. Southern came right back as Northwest missed some shots and both Tyler Funk and Grant Cozad picked up their second foul as the Lions came back to within one at 29-28 with 5:40 left. The Lions once again showed the ability to score a bunch of points in a hurry.
But then Northwest stopped the bleeding and took advantage of a fourth-chance possession and Kyle Schlake converted to make it 35-28 with 2:33 left.
But Southern closed to within four at the half and then started the second half off strongly to lead 43-40 with 14:43 left in the game. Matt Wallace turned the ball over and Southern had a chance to go up two possessions, but he stole it right back and got a layup to make it 43-42 and neither team led by more than a possession for the remainder of regulation.
Northwest trailed by two in the closing seconds, but St. Joseph Lafayette product Bryston Williams hit two free throws with 22 seconds left to tie it at 60 and Southern could not hit a shot at the buzzer that would have won it in regulation. There were seven ties and 11 lead changes in the half.
Disaster could have struck in overtime as sparkplug Tyler Funk fouled out and Southern built up a six point lead with 3:20 left in the first overtime. But then Matt Wallace hit Dillon Starzl to stop the bleeding and DeAngelo Hailey hit two free throws following a Lion turnover to make it 66-64 with 2:32 left. Following a missed 3-pointer by Southern, Grant Cozad hit one of two free throws to make it 66-65. But once again, offensive rebounding was critical for Northwest as they got two extra chances and this time, Cozad hit both his free throws to put Northwest in front 67-66 with 1:33 left.
But then Northwest could not capitalize on a chance to go up by three and Marquis Addison hit two free throws to put Southern back in front 68-67 with 27 seconds left. Dillon Starzl got a rare miss for Northwest and Southern had a chance with 12 seconds left to go up three as Northwest had to foul, but they fouled the right person as Blaine Miller missed both free throws, giving Northwest a chance to win. The Bearcats took full advantage as DeAngelo Hailey proved himself as a go-to player as he hit a layup with two seconds left to win and Southern could not get a shot off.
Points in the paint as well as bench points were critical for Northwest. Northwest outscored Southern 38-26 in the paint and kept them out of the paint in overtime, outscoring them 4-0. The bench outscored Southern's bench 26-12.
Northwest figured to have just as hard of a time against Pittsburg. They were playing on national TV and playing in a historically difficult place to play for both Bearcat teams. But Northwest led for most of the way and had it under control most of the way against the Gorillas. The Bearcats gradually pulled away from Pitt for the whole game, taking a 52-32 lead at one point before a late Pitt rally came up short. Pitt began hitting their shots and rallied to within eight points at 57-49 with a chance to cut it to six with under two minutes left. But they missed a shot with 1:24 left and Northwest hit their free throws for the win. Not only did the win leave Northwest alone in first place in the MIAA, they could possibly get back into the national ranking picture after falling out of the rankings following their losses in Hawaii. They had three players in double figures; Dillon Starzl once again led the scoring with 16 points, followed by Hailey with 15 and Alex Sullivan with 13. Northwest forced 19 Pitt turnovers to only 14 for the Bearcats; they outshot Pitt 46% to 37% from the field. Northwest outscored Pitt 22-18 from the paint, outscored them 21-16 off the bench, and 18-12 off turnovers.
No comments:
Post a Comment