MARYVILLE, Missouri - The No. 1 ranked Northwest Missouri State University men's basketball team put on a shooting and scoring display in its 100-61 MIAA Tournament quarterfinal victory over visiting Emporia State in Bearcat Arena.
The Bearcats (22-1 overall) shot 60% or better for the third straight game and moved its current win streak to 17 in a row.
Junior
Trevor Hudgins went for 31 points on 11-of-15 shooting, including 7-of-10 from deep. Senior
Ryan Hawkins tallied 25 points and became the school's all-time leading rebounder with a double-double (10 rebounds). Junior
Diego Bernard did not miss a shot and notched 18 points, nine rebounds, four steals and two assists.
The contest was decided virtually five minutes into the game with Northwest making its first six shots and taking a 20-5 lead. Northwest would eventually miss a shot but took the lead to 24-5 on 8-of-9 field goals. Hudgins and Bernard each scored 10 points out of Northwest's first 24 points. The lead continued to grow as the Bearcats made 15 of their first 20 shots to be up 42-13. Northwest held a 48-15 lead after making 17 of 22 shots. At that point, Hawkins had 18 points and Hudgins had scored 16 points - with each of them having drained four three-pointers.
Northwest would lead 60-19 at the half - the largest scoring margin ever in an MIAA Tournament game. The previous mark of 31 was set by Northwest against Central Missouri when the Bearcats took a 50-19 lead over the Mules on Feb. 26, 2002.
The Bearcats shot 72.4% in the first half (21-of-29 FGs). Hudgins had 22 first-half points on 6-of-7 shooting from three-point land. Hawkins had 18 at the break.
Northwest continued its fiery shooting in the second half in building a 50-point lead at 93-43. Northwest cooled over the final seven minutes and ended up shooting only 50% in the second half (17-of-34 FGs).
Northwest will play again Friday in the first MIAA Tournament semifinal against Central Oklahoma at 5 p.m. in Bearcat Arena.
NOTES: Northwest moved to 10-0 in the MIAA Tournament quarterfinals under head coach
Ben McCollum ... McCollum is 22-4 all-time in MIAA Tournament games ... Northwest moved its all-time MIAA Tournament record to 47-25 ... Northwest is 4-0 in MIAA Tournament games vs. Emporia State ...
Trevor Hudgins moved to tied for No. 6 in MIAA Tournament all-time scoring with 154 points ... Hudgins is tied with Washburn's Ryan Murphy, who posted 154 points in six tournament games from 2000-2003 ... Hudgins moved to No. 8 on the MIAA Tournament's all-time assist list with 40 through seven career games ... Hawkins surpassed Don Sears for the all-time rebounding list in Northwest history ... Hawkins has accumulated 875 career rebounds ... Hawkins moved up to No. 4 in the MIAA Tournament history with 63 career rebounds through 10 career games ... Bernard moved to No. 5 on the MIAA Tournament all-time rebounding list with 61 through seven career games ... Hudgins posted his 8th career 30-point scoring games (and his 48th career 20-point game) ... Hawkins notched his 39th career 20-point scoring game ... Hawkins corralled his 26th career double-double ... Northwest's 16 made three-pointers was one shy of tying the MIAA Tournament record for most three-pointers made.
