Northwest's men looked for all the world like they were looking to find their way offensively following the loss of Dillon Starzl against Central. A loss would have dropped them further and further behind Central and back into the pack while a win would have kept Northeastern Oklahoma in the hunt for the MIAA title. However, Northwest came back from the dead after digging themselves into a 42-22 hole as they found some unlikely heroes in a 73-72 win. Conner Crooker, who rarely got more than five minutes of playing time this year, played 30 minutes and had 24 points. New point guard Bryston Williams had a season high 17 points. And Grant Cozad, who has been a sparkplug off the bench, turned into a reliable replacement at post for Starzl, getting 19 points.
Northeastern Oklahoma built up their lead by making an unbelievable amount of shots with hands in their face; everything they threw up was going in regardless of whether someone was guarding them or not. On the other end, Northwest was out of sync offensively early. But then Conner Crooker came off the bench with 14 minutes left and promptly exploded to the rim off fast breaks a couple of times. There was a parallel between Monique Stevens in the womens' game and Conner in the men's game; Conner had developed confidence in his game to the point where he could do what needed to be done.
Even as Northeastern Oklahoma was building up their lead, there were signs that it was not a safe lead. Both Conner Crooker and Bryston Williams were exploding to the rim for Northwest; it was only a matter of time before that opened up scoring for everyone else; Bryston showed tremendous upside potential at the point position. And it is very difficult to sustain the kind of shooting that the Riverhawks were doing and it was only a matter of time before they cooled down. Finally, Grant Cozad put on a nice spin move and Bryston Williams got a putback and followed with a steal to bring Northwest's deficit under double digits at 46-37 at the break.
Coach Ben McCollum made some changes at the start of the second half, starting Matt Wallace, Conner Crooker, Grant Cozad, Bryston Williams, and Alex Sullivan. Northeast Oklahoma went back in front by double digits, but then Grant Cozad scored a backdoor layup off a Crooker drive and then Kyle Schlake came off the bench to anchor the post and played some steady minutes for Northwest on both ends. He hit a couple of free throws and then Conner exploded to the rim twice, once for a 3-point play, before Schlake got a putback for Northwest to make it 55-50.
The constant slashing to the rim by Conner Crooker and Bryston Williams was finally taking effect on Northeastern Oklahoma as they were starting to get into foul trouble. Their two main players, Bryton Hobbs and Jermaine Bransford both went to the bench with three fouls early in the second half during Northwest's run. A lot of teams have the tendency to throw up quick 3-pointers when they are a long ways down; however, a manageable deficit can snowball into a 30-point deficit in a hurry that way. But going to the rim can be a very effective way of erasing a deficit; coaches frequently tell their players not to foul when their team has the lead as it stops the clock. And players will then become tentative on defense and allow a lot more driving opportunities to arise.
Crooker hit a 3-pointer to make it 55-53 and then a three minute scoring drought ensued. Northeastern Oklahoma put in Hobbs and Bransford again, but they picked up their third and fourth fouls. For Northwest, Bryston Williams picked up his third. Finally, Matt Wallace hit two free throws to tie it and Conner Crooker's free throws put Northwest in front 59-57. But after Northwest turned it over and passed up a chance to go up four, Northeastern Oklahoma hit a 3-pointer to go back in front 60-59.
At that point, the officials started making all sorts of bad calls favoring the Riverhawks. There were three different times previous to this when one of the officials barely blew his whistle before calling a Bearcat foul. This is a good way to allow a game to get out of hand; this is the sort of thing that causes players and coaches to lose confidence in officials. Officials have to have enough confidence in a call to blow the whistle firmly and "stick" a player with a call. If they are not sure of themselves, then it is better not to make the call.
Among other bad calls by the officials during the next stretch, there was an obvious elbow by one of the Riverhawk players that was missed by the officials. There was another call where Grant Cozad was standing straight up with his hands in the air and the Northeast Oklahoma player tripped and fell, but Cozad was called for his fourth foul as Northeast Oklahoma built their lead up to 65-59. There was another call where one of the Riverhawk players was trying to seal Bryston Williams down low and was pushing off on him to do it, but the official called the foul on Bryston. That could have been a critical item as it was Bryston's fourth foul. And Cozad was a victim of another bad call as one of the Riverhawk players hooked him during a defensive rebounding situation and gave him a hard shove, but the official didn't call it.
Despite the bad officiating, Northwest played through it as Conner Crooker ended a three minute scoring drought with a pair of free throws with 3:16 left to make it 65-61. Despite Northeastern Oklahoma sending help defense in the driving lanes, Crooker and Williams were still getting to the rim. But it looked like a valiant effort would fall short with 52 seconds left as Ethan Anderson stepped to the line with his team up 69-64 and a chance to put the Riverhawks up by three possessions. But he missed both of his free throws and Bryston Williams converted a 3-point play on the other end with 45.5 seconds left after he rushed the ball up the floor to make it 69-67. Williams and Crooker were the two fastest players on the floor and it paid off in the end.
Northwest went to a five guard look on their press, but Bryton Hobbs threw a dangerous pass that Jermaine Bransford converted for a layup to make it 71-67 with 36 seconds left. Bryston Williams once again rushed it up the floor, but this time threw it away instead of going up for a shot and he had to foul, picking up his fifth and putting Bransford on the line. Bransford made one and missed one with 27 seconds left, and then Northwest rushed it up the floor and Matt Wallace kicked it out to Alex Sullivan with 19 seconds left. Sullivan, who had not scored all night, suddenly knocked down a 3-pointer to make it 72-70.
Northwest fouled Bryton Hobbs with 10.3 seconds left and all he had to do was hit both free throws and ice the game, but he missed both tries and Northwest was still in it. They were out of timeouts, but it didn't matter as they knew exactly what to do with it. Conner Crooker rushed the ball up the floor for Northwest and took on three defenders, somehow found a seam, and hit a layup and drew a foul with 4.4 seconds left. He hit the free throw to put Northwest up 73-72. Christian Mack rushed the ball up the floor for the Riverhawks, but his contested 3-pointer from 30 feet out hit the front of the rim and bounced out.
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