Reigning champion Northwest Missouri Bearcats advance to NCAA Tournament Elite Eight

The defending NCAA champion Northwest Missouri State men’s basketball team is back in the Elite Eight.

The Bearcats, seeded third, beat host and top seed Augustana 70-56 on Tuesday night in South Dakota for the Division II Central Region championship, their sixth overall and fourth in the last five years the NCAA Tournament was contested.

Northwest (31-5) heads to Evansville, Indiana for a national quarterfinal game next week. The Bearcats were reseeded fifth and will play No. 4 seed Bentley (25-4) at noon March 22.

Northwest has won three of the last four national titles under coach Ben McCollum.

Trevor Hudgins led the 10th-ranked Bearcats with 27 points. Northwest led 34-25 at halftime but saw its lead cut to one point at 44-43 with 13:48 remaining. Then the Bearcats took control for good after a layup and three-pointer by Diego Bernard (10 points) and two three-pointers by Wes Dreamer (13 points).

Griffons’ Elite Eight matchup set

Missouri Western, which advanced to the women’s NCAA Division II Elite Eight on Monday night, learned its national quarterfinal opponent. The Griffons (24-9) were reseeded seventh and will play No. 2 seed Grand Valley State (30-2) at 2:30 p.m. Monday in Birmingham, Alabama.

Johnson County women win opener

The Johnson County Community College women’s basketball team won its NJCAA Division II Tournament opener Tuesday in Port Huron, Michigan.

Led by Nariyah Simmons’ 21 points, the second-seeded Cavaliers (32-1) beat No. 15 seed Cape Fear 98-67, putting up the second-most points by a Johnson County team at the national tournament. The Cavaliers will face No. 7 seed Morton College (28-2) at 7 p.m. Wednesday in the quarterfinals.

This story was originally published March 15, 2022 at 9:54 PM.