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By David Boyce

MARYVILLE, Mo. - The Northwest Missouri State men's basketball team gave up the first two points in the second half and stared at an 11-point deficit against Central Oklahoma. Anxiety was high inside Bearcat Arena late Saturday afternoon.
 
Northwest coach Ben McCollum kept his team in the locker room at halftime until there was less than a minute before start of the second half.
 
"He reminded us of the hungry mentality, coming into games and playing like you are hungry," said Northwest junior D'Vante Mosby.
 
The Bearcats desperately needed a spark. It came from the lone senior on the roster, 6-foot-2 guard Conner Crooker. Two straight strong drives for baskets in the paint lifted Northwest out of its offensive doldrums.
 
After the 11-point deficit, Northwest scored 14 of the next 16 points and zoomed past the Bronchos for a 78-59 victory.
 
Northwest, 8-4 overall and 5-2 in the MIAA, returns to action 7:30 p.m. Monday at home against Northeastern State.
 
The Bearcats definitely want to take what it did in the second half against Central Oklahoma and play like that at the start of their game on Monday.
 
The second half was vintage Bearcat basketball. Crooker's two drives helped Northwest close to 41-33. Junior Zach Schneider followed with a three-pointer and then sophomore Justin Pitts with a two-point field goal. Trailing 41-38, the Bearcats were back in the game.
 
"Coaches always tell me to be aggressive, stay confident and when I saw the open lane, I kept taking it," said Crooker, who tied a career-high in points with 27 on 10-for-14 shooting from the field.
 
Northwest went ahead 43-42 on a basket by Pitts. After Central Oklahoma briefly regained the lead, the Bearcats scored the next nine for a 52-44 lead.
 
"That first half was pretty bad and coach came in yelling at us," Crooker said. "We knew we had to pick it up.
 
"You practice trying to do that. Get a stop, get a score, get a stop and get a score. It was fun to see that in a game setting."
 
The Bronchos never drew closer than seven the rest of the way and that only happened once.
 
A three-pointer by Schneider with 6:38 left gave Northwest a comfortable 68-53 lead.
 
The Bearcats were back.
 
After losing its last two conference games before Christmas break, Northwest needed to make a strong statement in the new year that it was worthy of being picked to win conference.
 
"This was very important and crucial," Crooker said. "After those two losses we were a little down. They picked us No. 1 overall in preseason. We know we have the talent. We have to put it together. Today, in the second half, we kind of showed that."
 
The Bearcats understand every team is going to play them hard. Central Oklahoma, which dropped to 5-7 and 1-5 in the MIAA, played as if it were battling for the conference title.
 
"We are definitely aware of that." Mosby said. "Whether we are ready, we will see. We will take it day by day. We just need to keep listening to what the coaches say and keep getting better."
 
Northwest gave up the first five points and never led in the first half. The Bearcats went into halftime trailing 38-29.
 
Only two players shot the ball well for Northwest in the first 20 minutes. Sophomore Chris-Ebou Ndow went 3-for-3 from the field and Cooker was 4-for-8. Nobody else for the Bearcats had more than one field goal.
 
The Bearcats went 10-for-26 from the field for 39 percent. Northwest wasn't much better on the defensive end, allowing the Bronchos to shoot 53 percent from the field.
 
Midway through the first half, it appeared Northwest had corrected its sluggish start, closing to 16-15. Central Oklahoma scored nine of the next 11 points and increased its lead to 25-17. The Bearcats never threatened to tie or go ahead the rest of the first half.