EVANSVILLE, Indiana – The No. 2-seeded Northwest Missouri State University men’s basketball team reached the NCAA Division II national title game with a 77-46 win over No. 3-seeded Flagler College at the Ford Center.
It marks the third time in school history that Northwest has reached the national championship game as the Bearcats previously won the crown in 2017 and 2019.
The 31-point margin of victory is the second-largest for the Bearcats in NCAA Tournament history – trailing on the 41-point triumph over Washburn (85-44) in this year’s NCAA second-round game.
The Bearcats were able to spread the wealth early in the contest with three different Northwest players scoring in the opening three minutes. Diego Bernard, Ryan Hawkins and Luke Waters each scored, while Flagler started 0-for-3 from the field forcing a Saints timeout with 17:19 to play in the half.
A Flagler three-pointer from Chase Fiddler cut the Northwest lead to 10-9 with 14:44 on the clock. However, Wes Dreamer answered with a triple of his own to start a 7-0 Bearcat run. Fiddler would hit another deep trey with 10:31 to play to cut the Bearcat lead to three at 17-14.
Northwest then took over the contest with a 21-2 run from the 10:14 mark to the 3:43 mark of the opening half. Freshman Isaiah Jackson capped the Northwest spurt by sinking a pair of free throws to make it 38-16.
Northwest was unable to add to its lead as Flagler answered back with an 8-0 run. However, Bernard mesmerized the crowd with a tip-in dunk just before the halftime buzzer to give Northwest a 40-24 lead at the break.
The Bearcats locked in even more defensively in the second half limiting the Saints to only eight points through the first 13:30 of the second half. The Bearcats began the half on a 24-8 run to give Northwest a 64-32 lead.
The Saints would manage 22 points in the second half and were held to a season-low 46 points. Flagler’s previous season-low for points in a game came in a 66-63 loss to North Georgia Jan. 6.
Flagler’s Zaizea Lottie came into the contest averaging 25 points per game, but the Bearcats were able to limit him to 15 points on 14 field goal attempts.
Northwest limited Flagler to 34.0% shooting from the floor and just 5-of-22 from three-point range (22.7%).
Senior Ryan Hawkins posted his 29th career double-double with 20 points and 11 rebounds. It’s the 43rd time in his career that Hawkins has scored 20 or more points in a game.
Sophomore Luke Waters made his first four shots of the game and registered 15 points on 5-of-6 shooting from the floor. Waters was 2-of-2 from three-point range.
Junior Diego Bernard flirted with a triple-double and ended up with 10 points, nine rebounds, seven assists and two steals.
Junior Trevor Hudgins reached double-figure scoring for the 91st time in his career with 13 points. Hudgins knocked down 3-of-6 from three-point range.
Freshman Isaiah Jackson played a season-high 25 minutes and contributed with four points, four rebounds, two steals and an assist.
The national championship game will feature No. 1-seeded West Texas A&M and No. 2-seeded Northwest. West Texas A&M advanced to the title game with an 87-86 victory over Lincoln Memorial with a three-pointer at the buzzer.
NOTES: It marked the 10th time this season that Northwest did not trail in the entire game … Northwest has won 42 straight games on neutral floors … under the direction of head coach Ben McCollum the Bearcats are 118-2 in games decided by 20 points or more … Northwest has won 116 consecutive games when the final scoring margin is 20 or more points … Northwest improved to 96-3 over the past three seasons … Northwest is 158-8 in the last five seasons … Northwest is 3-0 in national semifinal games … Northwest is 33-20 all-time in NCAA Tournament play … head coach Ben McCollum is 22-5 in NCAA Tournament play … McCollum moved to 299-78 in 12 seasons as a head coach … McCollum is 34-3 as a coach in the month of March … Northwest has won 16 of its last 17 NCAA Tournament games … Northwest’s 27 wins are tops among all NCAA Division II teams this season … Elite 90 award winner Jaran Richman recorded a steal and made his first basket of the season with 1:28 to play.
