SIOUX FALLS, S.D. – The Northwest Missouri State University men's basketball team punched the program's sixth ticket to the Elite Eight with a 70-56 win over top-seeded Augustana Tuesday in the 2022 NCAA Division II Central Region championship game at the Sanford Pentagon.
 
Bearcat junior point guard Trevor Hudgins knocked in seven three-pointers and scored a game-high 27 points to go along with six assists to allow Northwest to its third straight Elite Eight appearance.
 
Northwest moved to 31-5 overall. Augustana completed its season at 26-4.
 
Northwest opened up a 9-4 lead barely four minutes into the contest. Augustana responded with a 13-3 spurt to take its largest lead of the game at 19-12 with 9:48 to play.
 
Hudgins then took over in the final 10 minutes of the opening half. Hudgins out-scored the Vikings by himself, 15-6. Northwest closed the half on a 22-6 spurt. Hudgins buried his five of his final six shots of the half – all from beyond the three-point arc. Augustana closed to 28-25 with 1:39 to play, but Hudgins hit a three with 1:14 left and then drained a deep triple to beat the buzzer to send the Bearcats into the locker room with a 34-25 lead. Hudgins went 6-of-7 from 3-point range in the first 20 minutes.
 
Hudgins buried his seventh three-pointer of the game on a transition play from the right wing that forced Augie to take a timeout. Hudgins's triple gave Northwest a 44-37 lead with 15:45 to play in the game. The Vikings surged out of the timeout and pulled to within 44-43 with 13:28 left which ignited the home crowd of 1,637.
 
However, a steal and layup by junior guard Diego Bernard stemmed the tide. Bernard followed with a triple from the corner in front of the Bearcat bench and Wes Dreamer swished a three from the left wing to send the Northwest fans into a frenzy. Dreamer buried yet another triple with 8:59 to play that capped an 11-0 run and gave Northwest a double-digit lead at 55-43.
 
Sophomore forward Luke Waters sank Northwest's 14th three-pointer of the game with 4:24 left to push the advantage to 13 at 60-47.
 
Northwest missed all three of its front end of 1-and-1 free throws that allowed Augustana to trim the lead to seven at 61-54 with 1:05 to play. Northwest hit 5-of-6 free throws in the final 65 seconds and redshirt freshman guard Isaiah Jackson beat the Augie press with a couple of layups in the final :34 to provide Northwest with its 70-56 victory.

NOTES: Northwest is 37-20 all-time in NCAA Tournament play … Northwest's 31 wins ranks tied for the third-most in program history ... McCollum improved his NCAA Tournament record to 26-5 overall … Northwest has won 14 straight NCAA Tournament games and 21 of its last 22 … over the past four seasons, Northwest has posted a mark of 128-8 … Northwest is 190-13 over the last six seasons … Trevor Hudgins posted his 73rd career 20-point scoring game ... Hudgins has scored 2,763 career points, to rank No. 20 on the all-time NCAA Div. II scoring list ... Hudgins needs 57 more points to equal the MIAA all-time leading scorer Bill Fennelly's total of 2,819 points at Central Missouri from 1977-81 ... Hudgins has scored 831 points this season to rank No. 4 on the MIAA's single-season scoring chart ... Hudgins has sank 157 three-pointers this season, which ranks as the third-highest single-season total in NCAA Div. II history ... Hudgins has sank 424 career three-pointers … Wes Dreamer captured his 44th double-figure scoring game … Diego Bernard tallied his 93rd career double-figure scoring game … Trevor Hudgins and Diego Bernard are perfect 14-0 in the NCAA Tournament … Northwest leads the nation this season with 369 made three-pointers … under head coach Ben McCollum, Northwest has a record of 146-5 when holding the opposition to 59 points or less.

All-Tournament Team
Tyler Riemersma, Augustana
Isaac Fink, Augustana
Diego Bernard, Northwest Missouri State
Wes Dreamer, Northwest Missouri State
MVP - Trevor Hudgins, Northwest Missouri State