ST. JOSEPH, Mo. – The Northwest Missouri State University men's basketball team came up short Saturday against the Missouri Western State University Griffons at the MWSU Fieldhouse, 71-58.
 
The Bearcats led the matchup 52-50 with 8:25 to play, but the Griffons went on a 15-3 run to take a 10-point lead with 2:51 left in the game. MWSU closed the contest on a 21-8 run in the final eight minutes.
 
Senior Byron Alexander collected his second career double-double with 11 points and 12 rebounds. Freshman Marcus Glock scored a team-high 14 points on the strength of 4-of-6 shooting from beyond the three-point arc.
 
Missouri Western moves to 15-7 overall and 6-5 in MIAA play. Northwest drops to 4-16 overall and 2-9 in league action.

Northwest's Trey Moala got the game's scoring going with a free throw to give the Bearcats a 1-0 lead. However, Missouri Western scored the next seven points to take a 7-1 lead. Northwest regained the lead at 11-10 on a triple from Padraig Gallagher with 12:46 to play in the first half. The Griffons led 23-18 with 7:42 left in the half, but the Bearcats battled back to level the game at 23-23. Marcus Glock buried his second three-pointer of the opening half with :19 left to leave the contest deadlocked at 33-33 at the break.

The Bearcats came out shooting in the second half behind the fiery shooting from Luke Moustakas. Alexander notched the first bucket of the second half and Moustakas hit threes on back-to-back possessions giving Northwest a 41-36 lead with 17:46 left in the game. An Alexander dunk left the Bearcats up five at 43-38 with 17:01 left. The Griffons responded with an 8-2 run to take a 46-45 advantage.

Northwest took its last lead of the game at 52-20 on a basket from Alexander. Alexander's field goal was Northwest's only bucket in a seven-minute stretch that allowed the Griffons to take a 10-point lead at 65-55. In the final eight minutes of the second half, Northwest managed to make one field goal and went 4-of-9 at the free throw line. The Griffons managed six made shots and drained 7-of-8 at the free throw line in the final eight minutes to pull away for a 71-58 victory.

Northwest will head to the state of Oklahoma to take on Central Oklahoma (Thursday, 7:30 p.m.) and Rogers State (Saturday, 3:30 p.m.).

NOTES: Missouri Western has won three straight games in the series for the first time since the Griffons notched a four-game win streak against Northwest from Feb. 21, 1998 to Feb. 20, 1999 ... Missouri Western won the rebounding battle, 32-31 ... Northwest made more three-pointers than Missouri Western, 8-6 ... Marcus Glock has made at least one three-pointer in 14 straight games ... Glock has made two or more three-pointers in 13 contests this season ... Glock has made 30-of-53 three-pointers in MIAA play (56.5%) ... Glock has made four or more three-pointers in four games this season ... Luke Moustakas has made three or more 3-pointers in five games this year ... Byron Alexander has recorded 479 career rebounds and needs 21 more to reach 500 in his Bearcat career ... Alexander has played in 143 career games.