The Northwest Missouri State men's team snapped their three game losing streak in heartstopping fashion, beating Washburn 63-61 Saturday after losing to Fort Hayes State 64-60 Wednesday. The women's losing streak has reached four as they lost to both Washburn and Hayes. The schedule gave the Bearcats back to back road games at those two schools and then they turned around and played them at home last week.
With their loss, the men fell out of the MIAA title hunt as they are now two games back with three to go. However, they have plenty to play for as they can finish as high as third or fourth; they have already punched their ticket to the MIAA tournament, which is now a 12 team field. They play three lower division teams to round out their schedule, against Missouri Western, Kearney, and Truman. They own tiebreaks against everyone else that has five or six conference losses by virtue of head to head wins against them; the exception is Washburn, which beat conference leader Hayes earlier this year. Ties are broken by head to head games and then by who beat the highest ranked team in the conference. With their wins over Northwest the past two weeks, Hayes has moved into a tie for first with Central with four losses each. The men would host a first round playoff battle if they were to finish anywhere from 5th to 8th; however, if they finish at least fourth, they would get a first round bye and go to Kansas City Municipal Auditorium to play their second round.
The women are now 5-10 in conference standings and are locked in a tie for 10th. They have not clinched a playoff spot and must hold onto the 12th spot in order to get into the playoffs this year. A road trip to Kearney could be pivotal in determining Northwest's playoff fate; they are now one game ahead of Kearney in the loss column. However, Northwest would have the tiebreaker over the Lopers if they were to fall; the Bearcats have beaten Kearney earlier in the year at home and they have also beaten Northeastern State, who is ranked much higher than anyone that Kearney has beaten. The one way that would change would be an unlikely road win by Kearney at Washburn this Thursday. The Bearcats have Missouri Western, Kearney, and Truman left to play; they must win at least two of those to punch their ticket to the playoffs.
The men lost 64-60 to Hayes, but had a lot of positives to build on despite the loss. They got back Dillon Starzl, who played much more than expected and led the scoring with 16 points. That allowed them to limit Hayes' post players, who were forces on offense for the Tigers.
The Bearcats dug themselves into a 26-13 first half hole as they were still trying to get used to playing with Starzl again after not having had him for the last few games. But then they settled down in the second half and started chipping away at the Tiger lead, getting production from Starzl, Conner Crooker, and Grant Cozad. Finally, clutch 3-pointer shooter Alex Sullivan hit a 3-pointer from the left wing to put Northwest in front 53-51 with 2:12 left. But Hayes guard Craig Nicholson hit consecutive shots to put Hayes back in front 56-55. Northwest answered with a DeAngelo Hailey free throw with 47.8 seconds left that tied it at 56, but Hailey missed the second free throw and Alex Sullivan fouled trying to get the offensive board and Lance Russell put Hayes back in front with two free throws to go up 58-56. DeAngelo Hailey had a good look over one of Hayes' mammoth post players go in and out and Hayes hit two more to go up 60-56. Northwest had a slight chance at the end down 62-58 as Alex Sullivan missed a 3-pointer, but Conner Crooker put it back in with 1.7 seconds left and drew contact for a trip to the line. Northwest had to intentionally miss and get the offensive glass to send it to overtime, but they broke the plane too soon and Hayes hit two more free throws to get the win.
Northwest was back at full strength, but they still had to play Washburn, which had crushed Northwest in Topeka the week before. And the Ichabods picked up right where they left off, building up a 30-20 lead with 2:14 left in the first half. Their guard play was strong and they were making one tough jumper right after another with a hand in their face and Northwest was once again tentative against the zone, turning it over eight times in the first half.
But with the Ichabods up 32-22 and running out the clock for the last shot, they took the shot too soon and DeAngelo Hailey grabbed the defensive board and rushed up the floor and hit a running 35-footer at the buzzer to break Washburn's momentum and Northwest was down only seven instead of 10.
Northwest did better at taking care of the ball in the second half, but Will McNeill, one of the leading scorers in the MIAA, was making shot after shot with a hand in his face and Alex Sullivan picked up his third foul trying to guard him. But then coach Ben McCollum made an adjustment and put Matt Wallace on him and finally McNeill started to cool off and Conner Crooker's 3-point play and Grant Cozad's head fake and 18 footer made it 42-39 with plenty of time left. Grant Cozad jumped high in the air to block McNeill on a drive and that led to another driving layup from Crooker to make it 42-41. Finally, Conner got another drive to the rim, Washburn collapsed hard, and DeAngelo Hailey was open for a 3-pointer that made it 44-42 with 10:48 left. Washburn coach Bob Chipman was obviously feeling the momentum slip away as he drew a technical foul for protesting a moving screen call and Crooker's free throw made it 47-44.
The game settled down into a strong defensive struggle between the top two defensive teams in the league and the game was tied at 49, 51, 52, and 54. Finally, DeAngelo Hailey hit two free throws with 1:22 left and Washburn could not answer as Christian Ulsaker's shot went in and out and Northwest got the ball back. Conner Crooker took a drive, faked like he was going to pull back out, and then exploded to the rim for a shot that bounced high off the rim and dropped in to make it 58-54. Will McNeill rushed up the floor for a 3 that was well off and Hailey's free throws made it 60-54 with 21.8 seconds left.
But then Martin Mitchell rushed up the floor for Washburn and hit a pullup 3-pointer with a hand in his face with 16.6 seconds left. Bryston Williams hit one out of two free throws with 15.8 seconds left for Northwest to make it 61-57, but that meant that a Washburn three-pointer would give them a chance to tie or take the lead depending on what Northwest did at the line. Northwest played tight perimeter defense for nine seconds, but then little-used Leon Flowers got loose and hit a 3-pointer to make it 61-60 with 6.9 seconds left. Hailey made both his free throws with 5.3 seconds left, but Washburn had the ball for a chance at a 3-pointer. Northwest elected to foul and put McNeill on the line with 4 seconds left, but the move almost backfired. McNeill made his first free throw and intentionally missed his second. Washburn got the final offensive glass with a chance to tie and the final four seconds were an eternity for Northwest. But two hurried shots by Washburn were in and out and Northwest had escaped with the win.
For the women, they lost to Hayes 54-53 in heartbreaking fashion after having lost by double digits to them in Kansas the week before. The lead swung back and fourth the whole game, with Northwest playing through 30% shooting and shot-blocking post player Kate Lehman for Hayes. But the turning point came with two minutes left as Northwest, up 49-48, went in for a shot, but Lehman blocked it right to Katelyn Edwards for a fast break that put the Tigers up for good. Tera Ingalsbe hit another shot for Hayes to make it three, but Annie Matthews scored off a backdoor layup with 42 seconds to keep the pressure up and make it 52-51. Northwest elected to play for the stop, but Hayes got an offensive board and took valuable time off the clock and Northwest had to foul, and Traci Keyser hit two free throws to make it 54-51 with 7.6 seconds left.
Monique Stevens rushed it up the floor for a tying 3-pointer and was knocked down for a 3-shot foul with 1.3 seconds left. She made the first two, but then the Fort Hayes coach pulled off a trick that is more commonly used in football when he called timeout right before the referee handed her the ball for the third shot; this is commonly done in football in last second field goal situations. Monique missed the third shot and Hayes got the board and Northwest could not get the clock stopped in time.
Despite the loss to Hayes and the subsequent 61-54 loss to Washburn, the Bearcat women showed that they have not given up on their season, giving themselves a chance both times at the end after having lost by double digits to Hayes and Washburn on the road.
Northwest went up 7-0 in the first five minutes against Washburn, but then Stormye Everett and Laura Kinderknecht ran wild for the Lade Blues for the rest of the half, turning a seven point deficit into a 31-26 halftime lead for Washburn that they would not relinquish. Everett collected six steals in the first half alone and Kinderknecht was hitting 3-pointers at will, even with a hand in her face.
Northwest fell behind by as much as 10 in the second half under 11 minutes left left, but then started getting on the line and hitting free throws to get back in the game, cutting it to four at 46-42 with 9:19 left. But they could not buy a defensive board down the stretch as Washburn got enough second chance looks to maintain control of the game.
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