MARYVILLE, Mo. - The No. 2-ranked Northwest Missouri State University men's basketball team captured its 10th straight MIAA regular season title with a 65-51 win over the visiting No. 7-ranked University of Central Oklahoma Bronchos in Bearcat Arena.

Northwest moved its season mark to 26-2 overall and 19-2 in MIAA play. Northwest extended its overall winning streak to 12 victories in a row and its home-court win streak to 14 consecutive triumphs. UCO fell to 23-4 overall and 17-4 in league play.

It is the 23rd MIAA regular season championship for Northwest as the Bearcats extend their own conference record for most crowns.

The Bearcat defensive effort was again spot-on as they held the Bronchos to 51 points. It's the 12th straight game that Northwest has held the opposition to less than 60 points. It marks the 19th time this season that Northwest has held its opponent to less than 60 points. UCO was held to 40.0% shooting from the floor (16-of-40), while Northwest connected on 51.1% of its shots (23-of-45).

The Bearcats buried 7-of-9 three-pointers in the second half to pull away for the 14-point victory. Northwest sank 12-of-22 three-pointers in the game. UCO knocked in 6-of-13 from distance.

Wes Dreamer led a trio of Bearcats in double-figure scoring with a game-high 17 points. Dreamer was deadly from distance as he connected on 5-of-7 from three-point land, including 4-of-5 in the second half. 

Mitch Mascari knocked in 6-of-7 shots from the floor and tallied 16 points. He drained 4-of-5 from three-point land, including both of his second-half triple attempts.

Bennett Stirtz secured a 10-point performance. He also handed out three assists, garnered three steals, grabbed two boards and turned the ball over once in 39:21 of action on the court.

Northwest opened up a six-point first-half lead at 13-7 on a three-pointer from Dreamer with 12:22 to play. It would be the largest lead of the first half for the Bearcats. UCO evened the matchup at 13-13 on back-to-back three-pointers. Stirtz kicked in a three-pointer with 9:38 to play in the half to give the Bearcats a lead they would not relinquish in the opening half. Northwest held a 28-25 advantage at the break.

UCO held Northwest scoreless for the first three-plus minutes of the second half and grabbed a 29-28 lead. But Dreamer flicked in a pair of triples to turn it back into Northwest's favor at 34-29. UCO cut the Northwest lead to one at 38-37 on a free throw by Jaden Wells with 12:47 to play. Northwest responded with a 10-2 spurt that was finished off on an old-fashioned three-point play by Byron Alexander to take a 48-39 lead with 7:20 to play in the game. 

The Bronchos made another push and Wells had a chance to cut deeper into Northwest's lead with 3:53 to play. Wells scored a bucket but could not convert the free throw as Northwest held a 52-49 advantage.

Senior Diego Bernard was held scoreless until the final 3:25 of the game, when he was able to take charge. Bernard made a three-pointer with 3:25 to play for his first points of the contest. He sank two free throws with 2:31 to play. He then sent the home crowd into a frenzy with a throw-down dunk with 1:13 to play for the final points of the contest to give Northwest a 14-point bulge at 65-51.

Mascari also knocked in two dagger three-pointers in the final three minutes to seal the victory. Mascari drained triples with 2:51 to play and with 1:46 to stretch the Bearcat margin into comfortable territory.

Northwest will wrap up the home regular season schedule Saturday with a 3:30 p.m. tip vs. Missouri Southern. Northwest will look to become only the second league school to capture 20 MIAA victories in a single season. The 2020-21 Bearcats set the league mark with 21 MIAA wins.

NOTES: Northwest and UCO have split the season series with the home team winning each matchup ... UCO scored a 69-58 win over Northwest in Edmond, Okla., on Jan. 12 ... Northwest owns a 17-5 lead in the all-time series with UCO ... in its 12-game winning streak, Northwest is limiting its opponents to 48.7 points per game ... since the start of the 2011-12 season, Northwest is 160-13 at home - including a mark of 108-10 in MIAA play ... since Jan. 14, 2015, Northwest is 117-6 at home - including 82-4 against MIAA foes ... Bernard had his streak of 19 straight double-figure scoring games snapped ... Northwest has won 17 of its 19 league wins by 10 or more points ... Dreamer became the 19th Bearcat in the history of the program to surpass 1,200 career points ... Dreamer has posted 1,215 career points, which ranks No. 17 on Northwest's all-time scoring chart ... Bernard grabbed five rebounds to give him 932 career rebounds ... he needs 16 more rebounds to equal the Bearcat all-time rebound mark of 948 by Ryan Hawkins (2017-2021) ... head coach Ben McCollum captured his 360th career victory ... he is 360-85 in his 14-year coaching career ... McCollum is 12-3 vs. UCO ... McCollum has won 220 all-time MIAA contests.