KANSAS CITY, Mo. – The top-seeded Northwest Missouri State University men's basketball team collected its 19th straight MIAA Tournament win in Municipal Auditorium by securing a 65-52 victory over the Missouri Western Griffons in the first quarterfinal matchup.
 
The Bearcats also extended their season win streak to 14 in a row with the bouncing of the Griffons from the tournament. Northwest recorded its 23rd straight win over Missouri Western in the series between the two schools.
 
Northwest advances to the semifinals to take on the winner of Friday's quarterfinal between Lincoln and Emporia State.
 
The Bearcats did not trail in the contest and opened up a 12-point lead at 20-8 with 11:16 left in the first half. Wes Dreamer accounted for 13 of Northwest's first 20 points of the contest. Dreamer tallied a 16-point first half. Bennett Stirtz dished out seven first-half assists.
 
Missouri Western trimmed the Northwest lead to three at 20-17 on the strength of three consecutive three-point field goal makes. Northwest refused to surrender the lead and built it back up to a nine-point margin on a driving layup off the glass from Mitch Mascari with 5:15 left in the half. Northwest shot 60.0% in the first half on 15-of-25 field goals and led 35-27 at the break.
 
The Griffons scored the first bucket of the second half to cut the lead to 35-29. Northwest bounced back with a 15-5 spurt that included a pair of spectacular alley-oop dunks that were thrown down by Bernard and Stirtz. Northwest held a 50-34 advantage with 9:50 to play in the game.
 
Another quick 7-0 run was closed by a Byron Alexander slam dunk to push the Bearcat lead to 21 at 57-36 with 7:34 left in the contest. MWSU closed the game on a 16-8 run to drop the contest by 13 points, 65-52.
 
Dreamer led all scorers with 27 points. Dreamer made both of Northwest's three-point field goals and went 9-of-15 from the floor. He also added eight rebounds and was perfect in seven trips to the free throw line. It is the 14th career 20-point game for Dreamer.
 
Bernard tallied yet another stellar all-around contest. Bernard scored 16 points, grabbed a team-best nine rebounds, handed out five assists and nabbed three steals. Bernard has scored 171 career points in MIAA Tournament action to rank No. 6 in league history. Bernard added to his league career leading total with nine boards to give him 98 boards in MIAA tourney action. Bernard's five assists give him 41 and rank him No. 10 in MIAA Tournament history. Bernard's three steals gives him the all-time lead in MIAA Tournament history with 24. He surpassed Pittsburg State's Eddin Santiago and Northwest's Scott Fleming, who each held the previous mark at 23. Today's game marked Bernard's 13^th MIAA Tournament game, tying him with Washburn's Tyler Geiman for the all-time tourney lead in games played.
 
Stirtz dished out a career-high 10 assists and did not commit a turnover in 36 and a half minutes of action. Stirtz was credited with six points, two rebounds and a steal.
 
Alexander chipped in with 12 points off the bench.
 
Northwest committed only nine turnovers, while forcing MWSU into 13 miscues.
 
The Bearcats shot 50.0% for the game on 26-of-52 field goals. Northwest has shot 50.0% or better in 21 of its 31 games this season.
 
Northwest came into the game leading the nation in scoring defense at 56.1 points per game. The Griffons posted 52 points as the Bearcats held its 20th opponent this season to less than 60 points in a game. Northwest moved its mark to 169-5 in head coach Ben McCollum's career when limiting the opposition to less than 60 points.
 
NOTES: Northwest improves to 52-26 all-time in the MIAA Tournament … Northwest is 19-5 at the No. 1 seed in the MIAA Tournament … Northwest is 7-4 all-time vs. Missouri Western in the MIAA Tournament … head coach Ben McCollum moves to 27-5 in MIAA tourney action … McCollum is a perfect 12-0 in MIAA quarterfinal games … McCollum 27 MIAA wins ranks second in league history to only Washburn's Bob Chipman, who tallied 34 wins.