Three in a row: Northwest Missouri Bearcats win Division II men’s basketball championship
The Trevor Hudgins burst provided Northwest Missouri State with a cushion, and the rest of the Bearcats brought it home. The result: a third straight NCAA Division II men’s basketball championship.
Northwest Missouri State defeated Augusta University of Georgia 67-58 on Saturday in Evansville, Indiana in a game that will be remembered for Hudgins’ 31 points, including 22 in the first half.
But the Bearcats needed a late push after Augusta cut an 18-point second-half deficit to one point with 2:38 remaining.
Northwest scored the next seven points, highlighted by a Luke Waters inside bucket from a nifty Diego Bernard pass, and the outcome no longer was in doubt.
Down came the confetti moments after the final horn, and Hudgins was the first player to hoist the championship trophy.
Northwest Missouri (34-5) became the first Division II program to win three straight national titles. The Bearcats won the championship in 2021 and 2019 with the 2020 postseason canceled by the pandemic. Northwest was 31-1 when that season stopped.
The program made it four championships in five tournaments, winning it in 2017, and over that six-year span coach Ben McCollum’s program has amassed a 193-13 record.
The starting backcourt of Hudgins and Bernard improved their career NCAA Tournament record to 17-0.
“What those guards have accomplished ...” McCollum said. “There will never be another duo like them in Division II basketball. They just willed us to victory.”
Hudgins scored 22 points over the final 11 minutes of the first half — 12 in the last 4:50 — helping the Bearcats overcome a deficit. He added five assists.
“These guys are fighters,” Hudgins said. “From Day 1 we fight, to the end.”
The Bearcats won despite the departure of one of its top players from last season, forward Ryan Hawkins. He transferred to Division I Creighton and helped the Bluejays reach the second round of the NCAA Tournament.
Augusta jumped to a 17-10 lead with 7-1 center Tyshaun Crawford having his way inside against the smaller Bearcats. Also, before the first media timeout, Bernard, the team’s top defender, picked up his second foul and went to the bench.
But starting with a three-pointer with 11:08 remaining in the first half, Hudgins took over the game with his deep shooting and playmaking.
Hudgins cooled off in the second half, but the Bearcats grew the lead to 18. It had all but evaporated when Miguel Arnold buried a three-pointer to slice the Northwest lead to 57-56.
That’s when the Bearcats made their final push — to a championship and history.
This story was originally published March 26, 2022 at 4:36 PM.