Northwest Missouri State men advance to Division II Final Four with lopsided victory
When the Northwest Missouri State men’s basketball team is firing on all cylinders offensively there aren’t many Division II teams out there that can hang with the Bearcats.
They proved that by pummeling West Liberty 98-77 in the quarterfinal round of the NCAA Tournament on Wednesday at Ford Center in Evansville, Indiana.
The No. 2 seed Bearcats advanced to the Final Four by putting on an offensive clinic against the No. 7 seed Hilltoppers in which they shot 56% from the field and 40% from three-point range.
And they did against an opponent that is well known for its full-court defense.
“I think the press helped a lot with that,” Northwest coach Ben McCollum said. “They were in rotation a lot, and when you press a team with a couple point guards like we have it helps. At first, we were a little shell shocked but then we calmed down and started getting open shots ... Now we are on to the next.”
Senior forward Ryan Hawkins led the way for the Bearcats with a game-high 32 points on just 14 shots. His big game included six three-pointers and four free throws, as well as six rebounds. That type of performance wasn’t much of a surprise, as it was the 13th time Hawkins has scored 30 points in a game for the Bearcats.
But this was his postseason career high.
“I was just getting good looks from my teammates,” Hawkins said. “I think we played really well all around offensively tonight.”
Indeed, Northwest had several star contributors in the Elite Eight, as five different players scored in double figures.
Trevor Hudgins had 23 points, Diego Bernard scored 14, Luke Waters poured in 13 and Byron Alexander added 11.
It was an easy game for McCollum to coach. He said he didn’t call a single offensive set all night and simply asked the Bearcats to break the press, which wasn’t hard for Hudgins, the newly minted Division II player of the year.
“We just stayed calm against that press,” Hawkins said. “They try to speed you up and bait you into taking average shots. I think we got really good shots all night. Everything we took was either at the rim or an open look.”
Northwest took advantage and averaged 1.44 points per possession.
The Bearcats will hope to be equally as efficient in the national semifinals against No. 3 seed Flagler at 8:45 p.m. Thursday. Flagler beat No. 6 seed Truman State 70-69 on two free throws with 10 seconds remaining.
This story was originally published March 24, 2021 at 8:18 PM.