HAYS, Kan. – The No. 7-ranked Northwest Missouri State University men's basketball team was able to grind out a 57-52 road triumph over the Fort Hays State University Tigers Saturday at Gross Auditorium.
 
Northwest moved its mark to 19-2 overall. The Bearcats also improved to 12-2 in MIAA and pulled to within one game of first place in the league standings. FHSU dropped to 14-7 overall and 9-6 in the MIAA. Northwest has defeated Fort Hays State 15 consecutive times.
 
Senior guard Diego Bernard put on a full-court display with a career-high 29 points, six steals, five rebounds and two assists in 40 minutes of action. Bernard also surpassed the 2,000-point mark in his career. He has tallied 2,014 career points following today's triumph.
 
Sophomore Byron Alexander's second-half surge helped as well. Alexander scored six points and grabbed five rebounds in the win. Alexander scored six of Northwest's first eight points of the second half to help turn a 28-28 tie into a 36-30 Bearcat lead.
 
Northwest took an 8-4 lead four minutes into the contest. FHSU took advantage of a cold shooting spell by Northwest to churn out a 16-2 run that left the Tigers on top, 20-10. Northwest made only 1-of-9 field goals in the FHSU spurt.
 
Senior guard Diego Bernard put the 'Cats on his back as he led an 11-0 charge to regain the lead at 21-20 with 6:25 to play in the first half. Bernard scored nine of the 11 points in the Bearcat run.
 
FHSU hit back with six straight points to go up 26-21 with 2:50 before the break. Northwest closed the half on a 7-2 run to even the score at 28-28 at the break.
 
Bernard scored 15 first-half points and in doing so became the fourth Bearcat and eighth MIAA men's basketball player to reach 2,000 career points. Bernard accounted for 15 of Northwest's 28 first-half points on 5-of-13 shooting from the floor. He nabbed three first-half steals as well.
 
Northwest took its first lead of the second half on a bucket by freshman Bennett Stirtz with 16:44 left and the Bearcats would not relinquish it the rest of the way.
 
The Bearcats built a seven-point bulge at 47-40 on a basket by Bernard, but the Tigers would not go away. FHSU pulled to within a one possession game at 49-46, but Bernard answered with another conventional three-point play.
 
FHSU's Kaleb Hammeke hit one of two free throws with 2:34 to trim the Northwest lead to 52-49. Again, Bernard came back with a pair of free throws with 1:11 left to push it back to five at 54-49. FHSU's Bjarni Jonsson drilled a triple with :51.4 left to cut the lead to two at 54-52.
 
Bernard was fouled and sank one of two at the line to lift the margin back to three at 55-52 with :28.5 remaining. Jonsson had a shot a game-tying three-pointer on the ensuing possession, but the shot came up short and the ball went out of bounds to the Bearcats. Bernard calmly sank his next two free throws with :06 left to ice the 57-52 victory.
 
Northwest will return home to take on Emporia State (Thursday) and Washburn (Saturday) at Bearcat Arena.
 
NOTES: Bernard collected his 20th career 20-point scoring game … he went 8-of-22 from the field and 13-of-15 at the free throw line … Bernard grabbed five rebounds and became only the second Bearcat to reach 900 career rebounds behind only Ryan Hawkins … Bearcat head coach Ben McCollum earned his 213th career MIAA coaching victory to tie his predecessor Steve Tappmeyer for the most MIAA coaching wins in school history … McCollum and Tappmeyer are tied for No. 4 all-time on the MIAA regular season league victories chart … Northwest improved to 161-5 under McCollum when holding the opposition to 59 points or less … Northwest has limited 12 opponent to 59 points or less this season … Northwest is 150-10 over the past five seasons … in the last seven seasons, Northwest is 212-15 ... Northwest committed only six turnovers, while FHSU turned the ball over 17 times.