BOX SCORE (PDF)

ST. JOSEPH, Missouri - The No. 1-ranked Northwest Missouri State University men's basketball team opened the 2019-2020 season with an 85-65 victory over No. 22-ranked Daemen College in the Small College Basketball Hall of Fame Classic held in the Civic Arena. 

The Bearcats continued their winning ways behind a pair of 24-point scoring efforts from junior Ryan Hawkins and sophomore Trevor Hudgins. Hawkins buried six three-pointers and balanced his scoring with 13 in the first half and 11 in the second half. Hudgins did most of his damage in the second half after scoring only six points in the first 20 minutes before adding 18 second-half points. Hudgins made only six shots from the field, but made hay at the free throw line by burying all 10 of his attempts. Hudgins dished out a team-best seven assists.

Sophomore Diego Bernard also enjoyed his homecoming by scoring 19 points on 9-of-11 shooting from the field. Bernard tallied a team-best seven rebounds, handed out six assists and grabbed two steals.

Freshman Wes Dreamer collected 11 points in his collegiate debut. Dreams was 3-of-7 from the floor and drained 4-of-5 at the free throw line in just under 20 minutes of action.

The Bearcats started strong and built a 20-7 lead before the Wildcats took a timeout. Northwest made eight of its first 11 shots, including 4-of-5 from three-point range. The Bearcats used a 13-2 run to take its largest lead of the first half at 26-9 with 8:44 on the clock. The Bearcats shot 60.7 percent (17-of-28) in the opening 20 minutes in building a 39-27 advantage at the break.

The Wildcats played most of the second half in a double-digit deficit but did trim the lead to nine at 70-61 after a Joey Wallace free throw. Northwest used an 8-0 spurt to push the lead back to 17 at 78-61 and never looked back. The Bearcats would lead by as many as 20 and closed out the 85-65 to start the season with a victory.

Northwest will return to Civic Arena at 5 p.m. Saturday to take on No. 9-ranked Southern Nazarene.

NOTES: Northwest extended its winning streak to 39 in a row and moved within three victories of tying the school and MIAA record for consecutive wins (42 - set by Northwest in 1929-31) ... the Bearcats also won their 33rd straight game on a neutral floor ... Northwest is 101-5 over the past four seasons ... Northwest committed seven turnovers, while Daemen made 16 turnovers ... Daemen won the rebounding battle, 26-25 ... Northwest tallied nine steals ... Daemen went 16-of-23 at the free throw line, while Northwest went 14-of-15 at the charity stripe ... Northwest shot 56.6 from the floor and held Daemen to 46.7 percent form the field.