KANSAS CITY, Mo. – The Northwest Missouri State University men's basketball team came out victorious against the University of Arkansas-Monticello at the 2021 Central Region Challenge at Municipal Auditorium, 75-52
 
The No. 1-ranked Bearcats improved to 3-1 on the season as sophomore guard/forward Luke Waters registered a career-high 21 points. Waters went 7-of-9 from the field, including 3-of-4 from three-point range in the victory.
 
The Bearcats had a 17-12 lead with 9:58 to play in the half when Northwest hit UAM with a 15-2 run. Following the run, Northwest had a 32-14 advantage with 5:32 left before intermission. Junior guard Trevor Hudgins buried a deep three-pointer right before the halftime buzzer to open up Northwest's largest lead of the opening half at 40-18.
 
Waters led the offensive attack in the first half with 13 points. Waters made 5-of-6 field goals, including a three-pointer as he played 13 minutes in the opening half. Northwest had seven different players score at least one field goal in the first 20 minutes.
 
The Boll Weevils cut the Bearcat lead to 44-30, but Northwest responded with a 10-0 to take a 54-30 lead with 11:30 left in the game. Northwest led by as many as 29 in the second half at 72-43 with three minutes to play. The Bearcats lead did not dip below 21 points the rest of the way.
 
Northwest shot 24-of-48 (50%) from the floor, including 11-of-26 (42.3%) from three-point range. The Boll Weevils shot 22-of-47 (46.8%), but were limited to 1-of-6 (16.7%) from three-point land. Northwest won the rebounding battle, 28-25.
 
Northwest will return to play next Friday at 5:30 p.m. against the University of Missouri-St. Louis at the MWSU Fieldhouse in St. Joseph, Mo., as a part of the Hillyard Classic.
 
NOTES: Northwest made a season-best 11 three-pointers in the win … for the first time this season, Northwest registered double figures in assists (12) … Northwest has played 194 games since last losing back to back games ... Northwest's last back-to-back losses came Dec. 18/Dec. 20 2015 at Lincoln and at Lindenwood … Northwest won its 118^th consecutive game when the final scoring margin was 20 or more points … under head coach Ben McCollum, Northwest is 120-2 in games decided by 20 or more points.