Northwest Missouri State wins big again on journey to Division II men’s title game
The coronavirus pandemic prevented Northwest Missouri State from defending its Division II national championship in men’s basketball last season.
It seems like nothing will stop the Bearcats this year.
Northwest was once again dominant during a 77-46 Final Four victory over Flagler on Thursday at Ford Center in Evansville, Indiana. The No. 2 seed Bearcats raced to an early lead and never looked back in a game that was every bit as lopsided as their 98-77 trouncing of West Liberty the night before.
With the victory, they will get to play for another title against top-seeded West Texas A&M at 11 a.m. Saturday.
“It feels good,” junior guard Diego Bernard said in a postgame news conference. “We felt like we should have been here last year if we had a chance. We’re just trying to win one more game, and it just feels good to be back.”
Ben McCollum and his team won national championships in 2017 and 2019. They can add to that collection with another strong performance like they showed during the national quarterfinals and semifinals of this tournament.
Ryan Hawkins led the Bearcats with 20 points and 11 rebounds. It was another stellar for the senior forward, who has been a scoring dynamo for Northwest all season.
Luke Waters chipped in 15 points, Trevor Hudgins added 13 points and Bernard flirted with a triple-double with 10 points, nine rebounds and seven assists.
The Bearcats shared the ball well all game. That was most evident during a possession in the first half when they passed it 12 times before Hudgins attempted and made a wide open three-pointer from the top of the key.
“We tried to get a great shot,” Bernard said. “I feel like we had like four or five OK shots, and then we just kept passing and got some rotation going, and then I found Trevor for three. That was a great shot and he knocked it down.”
But this victory was arguably more about Northwest’s defense than its offense. The Bearcats made life miserable for No. 3 seed Flager by limiting it to 34% shooting and only five three-pointers.
Jaizec Lottie led Flagler with 15 points, but he needed 14 shots to score them while none of his teammates were able to join him in double figures.
One perk of winning a drama-free game in the national semifinals: it means the Bearcats will have extra energy for the championship game.
“A win is a win right now,” McCollum said. “There’s no style points. I wish we could carry over our margin of victory into the championship, but you just can’t. It’s just one of those things where we probably had good matchups and then we played well and then they didn’t play very well. There is nothing more to read into it in regards to whether we dominated or not.”
Still, Northwest’s past two victories have been encouraging.
While the Bearcats were running Flagler out of the gym, No. 1 seed West Texas A&M had to fight for a full 40 minutes to win an 87-86 thriller against No. 4 seed Lincoln Memorial.
Their matchup promises to be a good championship game between the tournament’s top two seeds. Then again, few teams have been able to keep pace with the Bearcats on their march through the bracket.
This story was originally published March 25, 2021 at 11:12 PM.