The shorthanded Northwest Missouri State men, despite losing both DeAngelo Hailey and Conner Crooker to injuries during the MIAA Tournament, came three points short of winning the MIAA Tournament and getting an automatic bid to the national tournament. The Bearcats missed out despite the fact that they had a better record than the #8 seed, Arkansas Tech, and the fact that they had beaten both the 7th and 6th seeds in the tournament. The Bearcat men beat #7 seed Northeastern State twice, winning 73-72 in regular season action and then beat them again 69-65 in the MIAA Tournament. They also beat Upper Iowa, the #6 seed, 59-52 early in the year at home. They lost to #5 Harding 68-66 in Hawaii and lost twice to Central Missouri, the 4th seed. They lost to them in the regular season game and lost to them in the MIAA title game as well. Northwest ended their season with a 21-10 record; Arkansas Tech, who was the #8 seed, had an 18-11 record.
DeAngelo Hailey led the scoring for Northwest for the season with 14.1 points per game; Dillon Starzl followed with 13.7. Alex Sullivan had 10.9 points per game. The men had two players finish with over .500 shooting; Starzl shot 61.4% from the field and Kyle Schlake shot 51%. Sullivan led the team with 84 3-pointers, followed by Hailey with 51. Sullivan shot 40.8% from behind the arc, followed by Tyler Funk with 37%, Matt Wallace with 36.7%, and DeAngelo Hailey with 35.5%. Conner Crooker led the team with 91.4% free throw shooting, followed by Bryston Williams with 81.3% and Alex Sullivan with 80%. The rebounding was spread out with Starzl getting five boards per game, followed by Hailey with 4.9 and Schlake with 4.1. Matt Wallace led the team with 151 assists. Starzl led the team with 22 blocks, followed by Schlake with 14. Wallace led the team with 40 steals.
The Bearcats outscored their opponents 66.8 to 61.0 per game and outrebounded them 33.8 to 29.6. They outshot their opponents 44.1% to 42.9% and made 444 free throws to 350 for the opposition. Northwest went to the line 145 more times than their opponents, making 635 trips to the line to their opponents' 490.
Northwest had beaten Missouri Western 66-46 in order to advance to the second round in Kansas City. Against Northeastern State, the game was tied eight times throughout the first half as neither team could take control. Northeastern State scored nine points off of turnovers to none for Northwest, but Northwest's bench outscored Northeastern 9-0. But a buzzer beating 3-pointer from DeAngelo Hailey swung the momentum in Northwest's favor as they took a 39-36 lead at the half.
Northwest had all the momentum to start the second half as they built up a 14-point lead with 12 minutes left on a jumper by Conner Crooker. But Northwest had built up their lead based on 70%+ shooting, meaning that it was only a matter of time before they cooled off. When they did, the Riverhawks came roaring right back despite Northwest burning two timeouts and took a 65-64 lead. But Northwest was able to settle down and get to the line at will down the stretch as all of their points in the last 3:04 were from the charity stripe. Dillon Starzl's free throws with 30 seconds left made it a two possession game for Northwest at 69-65 and Tyler Funk blocked a 3-point attempt with 9 seconds left that would have cut it to one point.
Dillon Starzl led the scoring with 25 points, followed by Conner Crooker with 13 and DeAngelo Hailey with 12. But Crooker injured his eye in the game, which meant that he was out for the rest of the tournament, meaning that Northwest was without one of their key sparkplugs for the semifinal game against Fort Hayes.
Against Hayes, Northwest fell behind thanks to a hot shooting barrage from the Tigers; they shot 57% in the first half in building up a five point lead and raised it to 51-39 with 13:35 left in the game. They maintained a 10-12 point lead for the next two minutes before Alex Sullivan hit a 3-pointer off a pass from Matt Wallace, a play that turned out to be a momentum-changer as it cut Northwest's deficit to seven. The shoe was on the other foot as Hayes started off with a torrid shooting percentage, only to cool down as the game progressed. The Bearcats fought back to within 58-56 with 5:29 left, but then DeAngelo Hailey, their leading scorer, rolled his ankle and was done for the tournament.
Lance Russell's free throws put Hayes up 60-56, but then Hayes went cold, missing three shots from the field and a one and one opportunity and turned the ball over once as Starzl scored six points in the next three minutes to put Northwest back in control at 64-60 with 2:16 left. From there, Northwest went 9 for 10 to secure the 73-66 win and put them in the championship round with Central Missouri.
The Bearcats were down two players right off the bat as neither Hailey nor Crooker were available and the Mules had beaten Northwest every single time during Coach Ben McCollum's tenure. On top of that, both Bryston Williams and Dillon Starzl both battled foul trouble against the Mules, stretching Northwest even thinner. But Northwest has been able to overcome injuries throughout the season and Bryston Williams played the game of his life for the Bearcats, scoring 27 points and keeping them close by hitting four 3-pointers. Bryston led four Bearcats in double figures as Grant Cozad followed off the bench with 14 points, Dillon Starzl 13, and Alex Sullivan had 12.
Neither side was able to take control in the first half; Central outscored Northwest 15-3 in points off turnovers, but Northwest was able to keep up by outscoring them 16-9 in the paint and by shooting 56% from the field. Finally, Matt Wallace hit Grant Cozad inside at the buzzer to tie it at 33 and nothing was decided yet.
Northwest started off by leading Central by as much as four, but then they cooled off and the Mules came back to take a 65-57 lead. Northwest then fought back to within 65-64 and had three chances to take the lead, but had two turnovers and a missed shot before Central hit a free throw with 16 seconds left to make it 66-64. Bryston Williams rushed it up the floor, but missed a layup with 10 seconds and all Central had to do was make two free throws to win it in regulation. But Dominique Long missed a one and one with 7 seconds left and Bryston Williams made the most of his second chance, making a layup with two seconds left to send it to overtime tied at 66.
Dillon Starzl had fouled out with seven seconds left in regulation, but Northwest kept right on battling with Central throughout the extra period even though they were down their top post player as well as Crooker and Hailey. Neither team was able to lead by more than a possession in the extra period; Grant Cozad's free throws with 1:08 left put Northwest in front 75-73. But a momentum-changing play happened in Central's favor as Dominique Long was fouled attempting a 3-pointer and made all three of his shots to put the Mules up one.
That swung the momentum back in Central's favor and once again the Mules had a chance to put it away leading 77-75 with 10 seconds left and Charles Hammork on the line for Central. But he only made one out of two, meaning Northwest still had a chance to tie. Matt Wallace was fouled on a 3-point attempt and he made his first but missed his second with Northwest down 78-76. He intentionally missed the third, but Central got the rebound and hit a free throw to make it 79-76 with three seconds left. Northwest could not get a shot off and Central had escaped with the win.
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