No. 1 Northwest ends regular season on high note behind 21-win campaign
Feb. 28—MARYVILLE, Mo. — No. 1 Northwest Missouri State basketball has added even more prowess to the record books.
With an 87-62 win over Fort Hays State, the Bearcats moved to 21-1 on the season Saturday at Bearcat Arena, earning the most MIAA victories in a single-season.
"It absolutely shatters the most MIAA regular season wins, shatters our own record, which is to me shocking," Northwest head coach Ben McCollum said. "I mean that's a lot of wins in one conference season."
The Bearcats also improved their win streak to 16 in a row, the longest active NCAA Division II winning streak.
"I think anytime you can show consistency over an extended period like that, it says a lot about the kids and your program and how they can get up for every game, get up for every practice, continue to improve, continue to want for each other's success," McCollum said.
Never trailing throughout the entire contest, the Bearcats began the matchup on a roll. Northwest started with a 7-0 lead and went up 45-30 at the break.
In the second half, the Bearcats went on their best scoring run of 10 points with 14:11 to play. Then with 4:30 on the clock, Northwest recorded its biggest lead of the game by 30 points at 80-50.
The Bearcats shot 32-of-50 (64.0%) from the floor and 55.6% from distance, while holding the Tigers to shooting 47.8% from the field and making 3-of-13 (23.1%) from deep.
Scoring 24 points in 20 minutes of action, Northwest senior Ryan Hawkins led the way in scoring to go along with five rebounds.
"I think these last two weeks we've started to play a lot better, a lot more rhythm on offense," Hawkins said. "For the most part we are just scoring and have the flow of the offense which is good for us right now."
Almost securing a double-double, Northwest junior Diego Bernard tallied 10 points, nine assists, five rebounds and two steals.
Northwest sophomore Luke Waters went 7-of-10 from the field for 16 points. Northwest junior Trevor Hudgins finished with 14 points and four assists, going 4-of-6 from the field and 4-of-5 from deep.
Northwest sophomore Wes Dreamer went 4-of-6 from the floor and from three-point land for a total of 12 points.
Now the Bearcats head into the postseason, where they are the No. 1 seed for the 2021 MIAA Tournament set to begin next week on campus sites.
"It's win or go home, and it's alway good to go into the postseason with a little confidence," Hawkins said.
No. 1-seeded Northwest faces No. 8 seed Emporia State Wednesday at Bearcat Arena.
No. 5 Fort Hays State women 70, Northwest 47
The Northwest Missouri State women's basketball team ended its season with a loss to No. 5 Fort Hays State, 70-47, Saturday at Bearcat Arena.
The loss keeps the Bearcats out of the MIAA tournament after COVID-19 forced the conference to hold an eight-team tournament instead of hosting ten teams this year.
Northwest head coach Austin Meyer said his team stepped up in big ways this season, as three starters suffered season-ending injuries and the squad continued to compete in a challenging schedule amid the pandemic.
"We told them in the locker room, hopefully this is the most adversity a team ever has to face," Meyer said. "I'm proud of their attitudes coming to work everyday and we didn't have much, but I'm proud of them for just being them."
Holding the Bearcats scoreless in the first five minutes of the contest, the Tigers had four different players go on to score eight-plus points.
Then Fort Hays went on a 15-3 run to start the second quarter, and the Tigers continued to solidify at halftime, 42-19.
Molly Hartnett had a team-high 10 points and three assists. Northwest sophomore Jayna Green led the team with six rebounds and four blocks.
"This year we've had a ton of adversity," Hartnett said. "I honestly think that we played pretty well throughout the season, definitely we'll keep getting better in the offseason and prepare better for next season."
The Bearcats end their season with a 7-15 record, the most MIAA wins since the 2013-14 season.
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Micaela Dea can be reached at micaela.dea@newspressnow.com.
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