Box Score

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By David Boyce

MARYVILLE, Mo. - A standing room only crowd at Bearcat Arena witnessed more than just a game in Northwest Missouri State's thorough 72-54 victory over Missouri Western on Saturday afternoon. They saw the Bearcats put on a clinic in team basketball and scoring in the paint.
 
Part of Northwest's success this year has been predicated on the three-point shooting of Zach Schneider, Justin Pitts and Conner Crooker. Once again, the Bearcats drilled a few treys.
 
But the primary reason why Northwest won its seventh straight was the way it scored in the paint in a variety of ways. Some came on slick passes Pitts and Matt Wallace that center Grant Cozad and forward Brett Dougherty finished. Others came on driving layups by Pitts.
 
"When you have great shooters like Zach and Conner, they pay more attention to them so it makes the lane wide open," said Pitts, who finished with 22 points.
 
It was a much different outcome than Northwest's narrow 59-58 win earlier this season at Western.
 
"The first game we weren't really prepared," said Crooker, who finished with 16 points. "They were running transition. That is all they do, pretty much. We were ready for it and we were stopping that."
 
It was a beautifully thing to watch as Northwest made sure it stayed in contention to win the MIAA regular season title. The Bearcats improved to 20-5 overall and 13-4 in conference.
 
A crowd of 2,475 certainly enjoyed the outcome.
 
"The crowd definitely helps," Crooker said. "When there is no one in the gym, it is hard to get yourself going. When everybody is there cheering and you hit a big shot, it gets you into it."
 
Northwest led from started to finish and held a comfortable 39-22 lead early in the second half. The Griffons closed to 43-30. Northwest scored the next six points for a 49-30 lead.
 
At no point in the second half were the Bearcats in danger of losing. The fun part came with 8 minutes remaining and Northwest up 51-34. Over the next two minutes, the Bearcats scored four field goals in the paint with driving layups by Pitts and one off a nice assist from Wallace that it left the Griffons baffled.
 
"It is really fun when we are hitting shots and we are getting stops," Crooker said. "Coach Mac (Ben McCollum) is hyped and showing a lot of emotion on the bench."
 
When the Bearcats concluded their layup drill, they held a 59-34 lead. There was nothing left to prove. Northwest eased up the last 6 minutes, allowing the Griffons to make the score more respectable.
 
"Our offense can always get better," Pitts said. "We have two more big games coming up."
 
In the first half, Northwest went into halftime with a 30-18 lead primarily because of the way they played defense and crashed the defensive boards. The Bearcats allowed just one offensive rebound by Western.
 
"That was a big key that coach Mac was preaching all week," Crooker said. "Twenty-four (Kevin Thomas) was a big time O-boarder. He got a lot of O-boards on us last time. He was stressing that a lot."
 
The Bearcats came out on fire, scoring the first nine points. It started with a bucket by Grant Cozad followed by a bucket from Conner Crooker. Cozad added two free throws and Pitts capped the run with a three-pointer.
 
Western fought back and closed to 11-8 and later 14-12, but never managed to tie or take the lead in the first half.
 
One player feeling good offensively for Northwest was Cozad. When the shot clock ticked down to 3 seconds on one possession, Cozad hit a turnaround 10-footer that put the Bearcats up 22-12 with 8:45 left in the half.
 
After the basket, Cozad smiled before running down the court. That is about as much emotion as you will see from these Bearcats, who all business during a game.
 
"It really helped," Crooker said of Cozad's  baskets early on. "We weren't moving the ball in the beginning. We had to rely on Grant and he was hitting shots. That was big time, and we were getting stops on defense."