MARYVILLE, Missouri – The No. 2-ranked Northwest Missouri State University Bearcat men’s basketball team held off the Northeastern State University RiverHawks in Bearcat Arena, 76-65.
Sophomore Trevor Hudgins buried 6-of-8 three-pointers and scored 20 points to go along with seven assists in leading the Bearcats to their second MIAA victory of the season. Northwest is 12-1 overall and 2-1 in MIAA play, while Northeastern State is 9-4 overall and 2-2 in league action.
Northwest shot 44.4% from the field, but was nearly unstoppable from behind the three-point arc. The Bearcats shot 60.9% by knocking in 14-of-23 from distance against the RiverHawks. In contrast, the RiverHawks shot 18.2% from three-point land by making only 6-of-33 from distance.
Northwest did not trail in the contest but it certainly was not a blowout by any stretch of the imagination. The Bearcats used a 13-2 run in the first half to open up up a 13-point lead at 24-11 with 6:43 on the clock. Northwest’s largest lead of the opening half was a 16-point bulge at 33-17. The Bearcats would lead 38-25 at intermission.
A 9-2 run by the RiverHawks pulled the visitors to within four points at 46-42 with 13:15 to play. But the Bearcats pushed the lead back to double figures on the next three possessions with made three-pointers from Diego Bernard, Luke Waters and Ryan Welty. Welty would knock in all three free throws when he was fouled in the action of shooting a 3-pointer from the corner to give Northwest a 60-44 lead with 9:46 to play.
Northeastern State trimmed the lead to nine on two separate occasions, but could claw no closer as Northwest closed out the double-digit victory, 76-65.
The Bearcats will be back in action at 7:30 p.m. Monday in Bearcat Arena against the Rogers State Hillcats.
NOTES: Northwest is 12-1 all-time against Northeastern State … Northwest has won 11 straight games in the series with Northeastern State … Northwest has won 24 consecutive home games, which ranks as the second-longest active streak in NCAA Division II men’s basketball … Northwest is 7-0 at home this season … Northwest is 116-9 at home since the start of the 2011-12 season … Welty scored 17 points for the second straight game and went 2-of-4 from three-point range … Welty was a perfect 9-of-9 at the free throw line … Bernard tallied 14 points and was also perfect at the line by draining all seven of his free throw attempts … Tyler Dougherty and Bernard tied for team-high honors with eight rebounds … Ryan Hawkins scored 14 points and has now tallied 996 points in his Bearcat career.
