MARYVILLE, Mo. - The No. 15-ranked Northwest Missouri State University men's basketball team dialed up a 78-74 home win over the Missouri Southern Lions at Bearcat Arena in the MIAA opener for both schools.

Northwest moved to 4-2 overall and 1-0 in MIAA play, while MSSU fell to 2-5 overall and 0-1 in league action.

Northwest opened up leads of 12 points in the first half and 13 in the second half before holding off Missouri Southern by the four-point margin. It marked the 12th straight win for the Bearcats in the series. Northwest has defeated MSSU seven consecutive times in Bearcat Arena. Head coach Ben McCollum moved to 20-11 all-time against MSSU.

The Bearcats got a second-half boost off the bench from junior guard Spencer Schomers as he tallied a career-high 11 points on 4-of-5 shooting from the floor. Schomers came into the contest having played 20 minutes in five games with two total points. Schomers drilled his first of three 3-pointers with the Lions having climbed back to within eight points at 42-34. Schomers threw down an alley-oop dunk from Bennett Stirtz with 5:48 to play that gave the Bearcats a 60-48 lead. Schomers buried his final triple of the contest with 4:57 left to put the Bearcats on top, 63-51.

The Lions whittled the Bearcat lead down to two at 74-72 after a 14-point barrage from Vinson Sigmon Jr. in the final two minutes. Sigmon Jr. would end up scoring a game-high 24 points.

Mitch Mascari scored on a breakaway layup and Wes Dreamer sank a pair of free throws in the final seconds to give Northwest its 78-74 triumph.

Northwest will return to action Saturday at 3:30 p.m. against the Pittsburg State Gorillas. Pittsburg State dropped an 85-75 decision at Missouri Western on Thursday night.

NOTES: Dreamer collected his 17th career 20-point scoring game as he posted 20 points ... Dreamer went 3-of-5 from the floor including 2-of-2 from three-point range ... Dreamer sank 12-of-14 free throws ... Stirtz tallied 17 points and handed out a team-high five assists ... Dreamer and Stirtz have scored in double figures in each of Northwest's six games this season ... Jack Ratigan, Mascari and Dreamer each tied for team-high honors with six rebounds each ... Northwest hit 32-of-37 free throws, while MSSU went 11-of-17 at the line ... MSSU was whistled for 25 fouls ... Northwest committed only 13 fouls ... MSSU hit 57.1% of its shots in the game (28-of-49) ... Northwest shot 46.5% (20-of-43) ... Northwest won the rebounding battle, 29-21 ... Northwest leads the nation in fewest rebounds allowed per game (22.8) ... the Bearcat bench outscored the Lions, 23-10.