Box Score

ST. JOSEPH, Mo.-Northwest Missouri State placed four starters in double figures to earn a 79-66 win against Missouri Western Saturday inside MWSU Fieldhouse. It''s the second road win of the season for the Bearcats (11-12, 6-10 MIAA), who avenged an early January loss to the Griffons (11-13, 8-9). Northwest has won 13 of the last 15 games in the series.

Northwest forwards Hunter Henry and Elijah Allen scored 25 and 20 points, respectively. Henry had 19 points and 10 rebounds in the second half alone. He was 10-of-12 from the field and finished with 13 rebounds for his 11th double-double of the season.

Allen reached 20 points for the third time in his collegiate career. He was 6-of-12 from the field and 8-of-9 from the free-throw line. The Bearcats were 20-of-25 from the stripe while the Griffons went 10-of-20.

Missouri Western forward Marcus Rhodes averages less than 10 points on the season, but scored 38 in two games against Northwest. He had 21 Saturday on 8-of-10 shooting and added nine rebounds. He was the only Missouri Western player who totaled more than seven points.

The Griffons made 70 percent of their two-point field goals, but went 2-of-23 from behind the arc. Their two leading scorers on the season, Dominique Thuston and Lonnel Johnson, combined for 12 points and a 1-of-14 performance from three-point range.

Allen scored seven points during an early 15-4 run which Northwest used to control much of the first half. Mike Larsen banked in a tough jumper to give the Bearcats a seven-point advantage and Edriss Floyd scored five straight points to give Northwest a 34-26 lead late in the opening stanza.

The second half featured offensive streaks by both sides. Northwest scored eight of nine points followed by seven straight points by Missouri Western followed by seven straight points from Northwest. The Bearcats never lost their lead but did see it shrink to two once and to four on a pair of trips inside the nine-minute mark.

A couple of great passes from Larsen and DaJuan Harris led to easy layups for Henry to help Northwest separate itself further. Henry and Harris each tipped in Bearcat misses for four straight points and a 74-62 lead with less than three minutes to play. Missouri Western scored two field goals in the game''s final four minutes.

Harris and Floyd each had 12 points for Northwest, which remains one game back of Missouri Southern and 1.5 games back of Missouri Western for an MIAA tournament berth. Northwest will go for its first three-game winning streak of the season Wednesday at home against Truman (6-18) in the hopes of closing the gap further.