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MARYVILLE, Missouri - The No. 3-ranked Northwest Missouri State University men's basketball team won its 11th straight game with an 87-75 home victory over the Pittsburg State University Gorillas.

The Bearcats (16-1 overall) used a late 12-4 run to put some distance between the Gorillas to secure the triumph. 

Northwest's offensive attack was led by Trevor Hudgins, who poured in his sixth career 30-point game, and Ryan Hawkins, who added 22 points, seven steals, six rebounds and five assists.

Northwest built an early 12-3 advantage as Hawkins scored eight points in the opening five minutes. The Gorillas countered with a 11-2 run to even the contest at 14-14. PSU took a four-point lead at 29-25 with 6:50 to play in the opening half. The Bearcats used a 16-2 run capped by a Diego Bernard dunk that gave the home squad a double-digit lead at 41-31 with 2:35 to play. However, the Gorillas locked in and closed the half on a 8-3 run to trim the Bearcat halftime lead to 44-39.

PSU's Martin Vogts nailed a three-pointer to open the second half to get the Gorillas to within 44-42. Northwest extended the margin back to 10 at 57-47 on a layup from Hudgins with 16:10 to play in the game. Northwest would eventually push the lead to 15 on a triple of Hudgins with 10:32 remaining. However, the Gorillas would not go away quietly and snuck back into the contest. PSU cut Northwest's lead to four at 75-71 following a three-point play from Ethan Holloway with 4:09 to play in the game.

The Bearcats then put away the Gorillas for good with a 10-0 spurt that included a tip-in by Bernard to help secure the 87-75 triumph.

Northwest will return to Bearcat Arena at 3:30 p.m. Saturday against the visiting Missouri Southern Lions. Missouri Southern scored a 103-94 win over Missouri Western in St. Joseph on Thursday night. Northwest will honor its women's and men's basketball seniors on Saturday between two contests.

NOTES: Northwest shot 58.9% from the field (33-of-56), including 65.4% in the opening half (17-of-26) ... PSU shot 58.0% for the game (29-of-50), including 69.6% in the first half (16-of-23) ... Northwest won the rebounding battle, 34-18 ... Northwest drained 10 three-pointers, while PSU made nine from distance ... Northwest has won 12 straight matchups against Pittsburg State ... Northwest leads the all-time series with Pittsburg State, 70-63 ... Northwest has swept the season series vs. Pittsburg State in seven straight seasons ... the Gorillas are 0-13 in their last 13 trips to Maryville ... since the start of the 2011-12 season, Northwest is 132-10 at home (which includes a tally of 87-8 in MIAA games) ... Northwest has won 61 of its last 63 home MIAA contests ... overall, Northwest has won 64 of its last 66 games against MIAA opponents (regular season and postseason) ... Northwest is 85-2 over the last three seasons ... Northwest is 147-7 over the last five seasons ... Northwest is 115-9 in its last 124 MIAA games (dating back to Jan. 14, 2015) -- in that stretch, Northwest is 60-2 in Bearcat Arena against MIAA foes ... Hudgins reached double figures for the 80th time in his career ... it's Hudgins's 45th 20-point scoring and sixth career 30-point game ... Hawkins earned his 36th career 20-point scoring game ... Hawkins has scored in double figures in 78 career games ... Bernard tallied his 65th career double-figure scoring game ... Bernard captured seven rebounds in the game and sits at 499 career rebounds ... with his next rebound, Bernard will become the 14th Bearcat to have 1,000 career points and 500 rebounds ... Hawkins moved within one point of No. 2 on Northwest's all-time scoring list with 1,794 career points as Vic Coleman tallied 1,795 points from 1980-84 ... Hawkins has 828 career rebounds and needs only 46 more to equal Northwest's all-time rebound mark of 874 set by Don Sears from 1966-70 ... Hawkins added a career-high seven steals to give him 199 in his Bearcat career ... Hawkins moved to No. 3 on Northwest's all-time field goals made list with 646 - surpassing David Alvey's total of 644 from 1974-77 ... the matchup featured a top-10 matchup of coaching victories in the MIAA ... Kim Anderson has tallied 329 MIAA wins to rank No. 6 in league history ... Ben McCollum secured his 288th career victory, which ranks No. 9 in MIAA history.