Northwest Missouri State Athletics

Justin Pitts – MBB Player (2013-2018)
Justin Pitts was the first Bearcat men's basketball player to be named the NABC's NCAA Division II Player of the Year in 2017. Pitts, a native of Blue Springs, Mo., was named Small College Basketball's Bevo Francis Award winner in 2017. Pitts was named the Most Outstanding Player of the 2017 Elite Eight as he helped guide Northwest to the school's first men's basketball national title with a 71-61 victory over Fairmont State in the championship game at the Pentagon in Sioux Falls, S.D. Pitts became the program's second player to capture NABC First-Team All-America status (DeShaun Cooper – 2014) with first-team status in both 2017 and 2018. Pitts was a three-time MIAA Player of the Year (2016, 2017, 2018). He was the first four-time first-team all-MIAA men's basketball player in program history. Pitts helped guide the Bearcats to four MIAA regular season titles and three conference tournament crowns. Pitts was the first Bearcat to eclipse 2,000 career points and finished his career as the program's all-time leading scorer with 2,459 points. He also left Northwest with the most career assists (575). Northwest went 114-18 (including 68-11 in MIAA regular season play) in his four seasons of competition. His Bearcat teams went 20-4 in MIAA/NCAA postseason play over those four years.