MARYVILLE, Mo. – The No. 13-ranked Northwest Missouri State University men's basketball team captured its ninth consecutive MIAA regular season title with a 57-49 home win over the No. 18-ranked Fort Hays State Tigers in front of 2,150 fans in Bearcat Arena.
 
Northwest completes its regular season with a mark of 25-5 overall and 18-4 in MIAA play. FHSU falls to 22-5 overall and 17-5 in league play.
 
Northwest will share the MIAA regular season title with Central Oklahoma. UCO will be the No. 1 seed and Northwest will hold the No. 2 seed for the 2022 MIAA Tournament set for March 2-6 at Municipal Auditorium in Kansas City, Mo.
 
The Tigers took a 7-6 lead with 14:08 to play in the first half. The Bearcats then used a lockdown defense to trigger a 15-0 run that left Northwest on top 21-7 with 5:40 left before intermission. The Tigers went scoreless for 9:29 before FHSU's Jared Vitztum hit a jumper with 4:39 on the clock. Northwest led by as many as 18 points in the first half at 29-11 and would take a 29-15 lead to the locker room.
 
Fort Hays State battled all the way back to draw even at 33-33 with 11:16 to play in the game. The Tigers used a 22-4 spurt. The run started with 1:17 to play in the first and was culminated with two free throws by FHSU's Elijah Nnanabu.
 
The Tigers made the charge, then went cold from the field as the Bearcats locked back in defensively. FHSU did not make a field goal from the 12:53 to 5:48. While the Tigers could not buy a bucket, Northwest used an 8-0 spurt keyed by the play on both ends by Diego Bernard.
 
Bernard hit a bucket with 9:34 to go to put Northwest up 35-33. Bernard then took it to the hoop a basket and free throw with 7:15 left to push the lead to 38-33. Bernard then notched one of his four steals to ignite a fast break opportunity. Bernard found Trevor Hudgins on the right wing. Hudgins buried the open look for a triple to give Northwest an eight-point bulge at 41-33 with 7:06 to play and force a timeout from FHSU.
 
The Tigers pulled to within five, but Hudgins answered with two free throws with 4:13 remaining. FHSU trailed 45-39 when Hudgins hit a contested stretching layup as the shot clock wound down at 3:30 to put the Bearcats up eight.
 
Luke Waters dropped in his 14th and 15th points of the game on a bucket with 2:58 remaining to up the lead to double figures at 49-39. Northwest went 8-of-8 from the free throw line in the final 1:03 to clinch the 57-49 victory.
 
Northwest had three players reach double-figure scoring with Bernard leading the way with 18 points. Hudgins and Waters each tallied 15 points. Bernard went 6-of-9 from the floor and 6-of-7 at the line. Bernard snatched eight rebounds and added four steals to go along with two assists. Hudgins buried a trio of three-pointers in 10 attempts from distance.
 
FHSU's Vitztum notched a double-double with 17 points and 11 rebounds.