MARYVILLE, Mo. - The No. 7-ranked Northwest Missouri State University men's basketball team continued its reign atop the MIAA as the Bearcats captured the program's 11th consecutive regular season crown with a 65-57 win over the visiting Missouri Western Griffons Saturday.

It is the 24th MIAA regular season title for the Bearcats - the most in league history. Northwest has won 17 outright MIAA titles and shared seven others.

Northwest extended its winning streak to 11 straight games, tied for the nation's second-longest active winning streak among NCAA Div. II teams, and moved to 22-4 overall. Northwest is 18-2 in MIAA play. Missouri Western fell to 15-11 overall and 9-11 in league play. The Griffons have lost five in a row and eight of their last nine after opening the season at 14-3.

It's the 15th consecutive win for Northwest over Missouri Western in Bearcat Arena. MWSU had snapped a 24-game losing skid against Northwest on Jan. 13 in St. Joseph, Mo., with a 76-70 win over the 'Cats. Bearcat head coach Ben McCollum posted his 30th career win over the Griffons as he moved to 30-3 against MWSU. It is the first opponent he has registered 30 wins against in his 15-year tenure in Maryville.

Northwest also moved its home-court winning streak to 12 in a row. The 12-game winning streak is the seventh-longest active streak among NCAA Div. II teams. 

The Bearcats trailed only twice on Saturday in securing the MIAA Tournament's No. 1 seed. Northwest took an 8-0 lead and did not allow MWSU to score until 4:46 into the contest. The Griffons took their first lead of the game on Reese Glover's 300th career three-point field goal with 9:09 to play in the first half at 14-13. MWSU's final lead of the game came at 16-15 with 7:17 left in the opening half. 

Bennett Stirtz started a 7-0 Bearcat spurt with a bucket, Wes Dreamer knocked in a pair of free throws and Stirtz sank a triple to give Northwest a 22-16 advantage with 4:32 left in the first half. The Griffons closed to within a point on three occasions but could not wrestle away the lead from the Bearcats. Northwest took a 26-25 lead to the intermission.

A decisive 9-0 run capped by an Isaiah Jackson steal and layup gave Northwest a 12-point bulge at 48-36 with 10:24 to play. The Bearcats would lead by as many as 12 points on three occasions in the second half.

MWSU put together an 11-4 run that was nearly 14-4, but Glover rimmed out a three-point shot with 3:32 left in the game. The Griffons would get no closer than five points the rest of the way as the Bearcats celebrated their 11th consecutive MIAA regular season crown in front of a capacity crowd of 2,200 in Bearcat Arena.

Stirtz led the way with 22 points on 7-of-12 shooting from the floor. Stirtz also added seven rebounds to help the cause.

Dreamer, playing his first game in 17 days after suffering a wrist injury in a win at Emporia State, tallied 16 points and eight rebounds in 31 minutes of action.

Daniel Abreu also reached double-figure scoring with 11 points and three assists.

The Bearcats shot 50.0% from the floor (21-of-42) marking the fourth straight game they have shot 50.0% or better from the field. Northwest won the rebounding battle, 31-24.

Northwest will hit the road for its final two games of the MIAA regular season with contests at Central Oklahoma (Thursday) and at Missouri Southern (Saturday). The Bearcats will look to become only the third league school in MIAA history to reach 20 or more league wins in a season. Northwest won 21 MIAA games in 2020-21 and 20 league matchups in the 2022-23 season.