SIOUX FALLS, S.D. - The Northwest Missouri State University men's basketball team advanced to the second round of the 2022 NCAA Tournament with a 69-54 victory in the Central Region over Minnesota State University Moorhead at the Pentagon.

Northwest (29-5 overall) had four players in double figures led by junior Trevor Hudgins with 19 points. Sophomore Wes Dreamer collected his sixth career double-double with 16 points and 12 rebounds. Junior Diego Bernard added 11 points, seven rebounds, a blocked shot and a steal. Sophomore Luke Waters contributed with 10 points and four rebounds.

MSU Moorhead (19-12 overall) saw its season come to an end after riding an eight-game win streak into the NCAA Tournament. The Dragons were led by Gatdooar Kueth's 17 points. MSU Moorhead shot 38.8% from the floor. 
 
The first half featured one tie and seven lead changes as the Bearcats held a 27-24 lead at the break. Northwest held a 20-14 lead after Hudgins sank his only three-pointer of the game with 5:50 left in the half. MSU Moorhead responded with an 8-1 run to take a 22-21 lead with 4:27 before halftime. But Northwest scored the next six points on buckets from Dreamer, Hudgins and Bernard to seize the advantage.
 
MSU Moorhead drew even for the final time at 31-31 with 17:31 to play in the game. Northwest took control of the second half on an 11-2 spurt that turned a 38-35 lead into a 49-37 advantage with 10:25 on the clock. The Bearcat lead would remain in double figures for the remainder of the contest.
 
Northwest will take on the winner of today's second game between No. 2-seeded Minnesota-Duluth and No. 7-seeded Washburn. The second-round game is set for Sunday at 5 p.m.
 
NOTES: Head coach Ben McCollum improved his NCAA Tournament record to 24-5 overall … Northwest has won 12 straight NCAA Tournament games and 19 of its last 20 … Northwest has won 13 of its last 15 NCAA opening round games … Northwest has won 51 of its last 52 neutral court contests … over the past four seasons, Northwest has posted a mark of 126-8 … Northwest is 188-13 over the last six seasons … Trevor Hudgins set the Northwest single-season scoring record with 797 points by surpassing the old mark of 780 set by Joey Witthus in the 2018-19 season … he is three points shy of becoming the seventh player in MIAA history to score 800 or more points in a single season … Hudgins has tied Ryan Welty for the MIAA and Northwest records for career games played (134) … Hudgins has scored in double-figures in 76 consecutive games … Hudgins has scored 10 or more points in 127 of his 134 collegiate games … Diego Bernard tallied his 91st career double-figure scoring game … Wes Dreamer captured his 42nd double-figure scoring game … Luke Waters earned his 38th career double-figure scoring game … Hudgins has posted 2,729 career points and needs 90 more points to equal the MIAA all-time leading scorer Bill Fennelly's total of 2,819 points at Central Missouri from 1977-81.