MARYVILLE, Mo. - The No. 24-ranked Northwest Missouri State University men's basketball team used a second-half scoring flurry to secure a 15-point win over the visiting University of Central Oklahoma Bronchos on a snowy night at Bearcat Arena.

The Bearcats turned a 27-25 halftime score into a 71-56 triumph by scoring 44 second-half points.

Northwest moved to 12-4 overall and 8-2 in the MIAA to retain first place in the league standings. UCO fell to 14-5 overall and 6-5 in MIAA action.

The Bearcats have won 22 of their last 23 games following a loss in head coach Ben McCollum's coaching era at Northwest. Northwest is 4-0 this season following a loss.

Junior sharp-shooter Mitch Mascari knocked in four three-pointers and went 5-of-8 from the field in tallying a game-high and season-high 19 points. Mascari also buried 5-of-6 at the free throw line. It is the fifth time this season that Mascari has reached double-figure scoring.

Senior Wes Dreamer committed three first-half fouls and was held scoreless in the opening half on four missed shots. Dreamer came back with 14 second-half points including a trio of triples in the final 20 minutes to guide the Bearcats to the win. 

Junior Daniel Abreu scored seven of Northwest's first nine points in the game and put up a 12-point, five-rebound performance with no turnovers.

Junior Isaiah Jackson did a lot of heavy lifting on both ends of the floor. Jackson finished with 10 points, six rebounds, four assists and two steals.

Northwest bounced out to a 12-5 lead. A 9-0 run by UCO gave the Bronchos what would prove to be their only lead of the contest at 14-12 with 11:05 left in the first half. Northwest hit back with a 9-0 run of its own to gain a 21-14 advantage with 8:01 left before intermission. UCO clawed back to a two-point deficit on three occasions including at the half where Northwest held a 27-25 lead.

The Bronchos trimmed the Bearcat lead to one at 32-31 with 17:19 to play in the game, but an 8-2 spurt from the 'Cats opened the advantage back to seven at 40-33.

A 10-0 Northwest run gave the home squad its largest lead of the night at 50-35 with 10:21 to go. The run was capped by a Blake Danitschek triple. Just as quickly, UCO came back with nine straight points of its own to make it 50-44 with 8:58 remaining. An 11-4 run by Northwest would push the lead back to 61-48 on a Dreamer triple with 5:42 left on the clock. Dreamer would bury another three-pointer with 3:46 to go and Jackson kissed in a three off the glass with 37.2 left to cap the 71-56 victory.

Northwest knocked in eight second-half three-pointers on 13 attempts. Northwest tallied 11 total three-pointers in the game marking only the fourth time this season that the Bearcats have made 10 or more three-pointers in a game.

Northwest shot 58.6% in the second half and wound up at 50.0% for the game by sinking 24-of-48 field goals. Northwest has shot 50.0% or better seven times this season.

Northwest will return to action Saturday at 3:30 p.m. against the Newman University Jets.