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By David Boyce  |  Facebook Photo Album

WARRENSBURG, Mo. - A smothering defense and a patient offense in the first half fueled Northwest Missouri State's men's basketball team to a huge halftime lead and an easy 79-55 victory at Central Missouri Sunday evening at the Multipurpose Building.
 
"It is always tough to win here," said Pitts, who finished with 29 points on 11-of-13 shooting from the field. "I think we came out ready to play on the defensive end and that sparks the energy on the offensive end. Everybody was making shots."
 
An offensive rebound and put-back dunk by sophomore Ryan Welty with 10 minutes left basically sealed Northwest's 10^th victory of the season. The play gave Northwest a 61-37 lead.
 
"It was pretty cool," said Welty, who finished with 11 points. "My teammates loved it. I don't think they thought I had it in me. It was good to show them I have hops."
 
Senior Chris-Ebou Ndow was one player who had doubts about Welty's hops.
 
"I was surprised," Ndow said. "I don't think he got too far off the ground."
 
It is easy to have a laugh when you beat a rival in a conference road game by 24 points
 
Northwest, ranked No. 1 in the NABC coaches top 25, improved to 10-0 overall and 4-0 in the MIAA. Central Missouri dropped to 7-2 and 0-1.
 
The Bearcats started the second half with an 18-point lead and never allowed Central Missouri to build momentum and get its home crowd into the game.
 
Central Missouri scored the first point in the second half. Northwest answered with a three-point play from Ndow, who was able to celebrate his birthday with a victory and 12 points.
 
"I just wanted to have a nice easy birthday win," Ndow said.
 
And it was easy.
 
After the Mules scored another point, Northwest junior Joey Witthus hit a three-pointer and then knocked down two free throws, putting the Bearcats ahead 48-24.
 
The Mules made one little run and closed to 50-34. Northwest responded with seven straight points on a basket by Pitts, a three-pointer by Ndow and a basket by senior Xavier Kurth.
 
"Obviously, from the outside looking in it looked like we had control the whole time," Ndow said. "The biggest thing was stopping the bleeding. They are a really good team. They could have got on a run at any point."
 
Truthfully, this was the third time in four conference games that Northwest put the game away before halftime.
 
The only area the Bearcats lost in the first half was at the free throw line. Central Missouri went 10 for 11 from the line compared to 1 for 1 for Northwest. It doesn't take proficiency in calculus to figure that is a nine-point difference.
 
However, Northwest still went into halftime with a commanding 40-22 lead. How does that add up? Well, the Mules made just six baskets from the field. The Bearcats went nine for 16 from three-point range. That pretty much sums it up.
 
"We guarded the ball really well and stayed in the passing lane," Welty said. "They didn't score too much. Most of their points came at the free throw line."
 
The only lead Central Missouri held occurred in the opening minute on a two-point field goal. Pitts wasted little time putting the Bearcats ahead with a bucket plus the free throw on the traditional three-point play.
 
After that, Pitts, a graduate of Blue Springs South, put on a show for his high school coach, Jimmy Cain, who was in attendance. Pitts made another basket and then drilled two-long three-pointers to give the Bearcats an 11-2 lead. Or you can call it an 11-0 Pitts run.
 
"It means a lot he still shows up to my games," Pitts said. "He is like a father to me to this day. I always try to go back and make as many games as I can.
 
The Mules got no closer than five points the rest of the first half.
And when they pulled to 22-17, Northwest put on a clinic in how to score against an aggressive zone.
 
It started with Pitts passing the ball to Ndow, sprinting along the baseline. Ndow finished with a thunderous dunk. Senior Brett Dougherty followed with a basket and then Welty drilled a baseline three-pointer, making it 29-17 with 4:08 left in the first half.
 
Central Missouri called timeout.
 
It briefly worked. The Mules scored the next four points.
 
No worries.
 
Northwest spent the final 3 minutes dissecting the Mules' zone. Pitts and Welty each drilled three-pointers. And at the halftime buzzer, Pitts knocked down a NBA-range three-pointer to give the Bearcats an 18-point halftime advantage.
 
Northwest shot a blistering 63 percent from the field in the first half while Central Missouri made only 25 percent of its shots.
 
"I thought activity with our hands sped them up more than they are used to," Northwest coach Ben McCollum said. "They missed shots, and we were able to get the rebounds. I think our energy and activity was the main thing that helped.
 
"I like to say it was an elaborate game plan, but we just played hard."