Bearcats light up Missouri Western in first round game

At the outset of the MIAA Tournament, two critical elements to Northwest Missouri State's success—three-point shooting and defense—functioned as well or better than they have all season.

Compared to two days prior against Truman State, they were much, much better in those areas over the full 40 minutes.

In a do-or-die game, the Bearcats rained in a season-high 15 three's and gave up their lowest point total to a conference opponent all season in a 66-46 romp of 12th-seeded Missouri Western in the first round of the MIAA Tournament Monday night at Bearcat Arena.

Ahead from start to finish, fifth-seeded Northwest (19-9) easily advanced to play fourth-seeded Northeastern State Thursday in the quarterfinals at 2:15 p.m. in Kansas City. The loss brought an end to Missouri Western's season at 10-17 and the career of head coach Tom Smith.

Facing zone most of the first 25 minutes, the Bearcats went a scolding 10-17 from three in the first half and finished 15-29, accounting for all but seven of their 22 field goals.

Leading the three-point attack was none other than senior guard Alex Sullivan—a full-fledged Missouri Western killer at this point.

Less than two weeks removed from tying the school record with eight three's against the Griffons in a 59-52 home win, Sullivan matched that total in another mind-blowing shooting display.

Sullivan finished 8-16 from three—one more miss than he had last time—and scored 27 points—one off his career-high set in the opening game of the season.

Sullivan was coming off his worst shooting performance of the year against Truman State when he went 0-10, but located his stroke in time to shred the Griffons again.

"I love playing against zones because I get a lot of open looks," said Sullivan. "We got Wally (Matt Wallace) that's really good at finding us and getting in those gaps and making them all try to find him. Coming off that last game when I went 0-10, I knew I had some shots that were going to go and I was due for a good game."

Sullivan hit six of his nine three's in the first half, outscoring Western on his own and helping Northwest build a commanding 35-14 halftime lead.

In the second half, senior guard DeAngelo Hailey sprung into action, scoring 15 of his 21 points with three three-pointers. He made five for the game.

The two honorable mention All-MIAA selections combined for 48 points in their real home finale. They were joined in double-figures by freshman guard Conner Crooker with 10 points.

Attacking gaps and dishing out to open shooters most of the night, point guard Matt Wallace finished with a season-high 11 assists and turned it over only twice.

Western's only double-figure scorers were point guard Reed Mells and forward Cedric Clinkscales each with 10 points apiece.

The Griffons shot just 35.4 percent and 4-20 from three. They missed all nine three-point tries in a brutal 14-point first half that also included 10 turnovers.

This led to a 22-2 advantage in points off turnovers for the Bearcats who committed only six miscues.

Northwest got off to a perfect start at both ends and led 8-0 less than three minutes in, with Hailey and Sullivan each hitting their first three's.

Three easy Northwest misses, including a Hailey dunk, and a pair of jumpers by Western's Dzenan Mrkaljevic made it 10-6 more than seven minutes in.

It was never a game from that point forward.

The Bearcats scored the next 15 points, all on three-point shots by Sullivan and Crooker, to open up a 25-6 lead.

A Hailey three and two more from Sullivan before the half extended it to 21 points.

Mindful of blowing a 14-point halftime lead the game before, Northwest prevented Western from getting within striking distance in the second half.

After switching to man, the Griffons had one stretch where they scored 11 straight points to make it 40-25.

But after that, Northwest scored the next five and eventually blew their lead out to 27 on back-to-back Hailey three's.

"We learned from our mistake, letting our guard down," said Northwest Missouri State head coach Ben McCollum. "We took it one possession at a time and competed throughout the whole game."

Comfortably ahead, the Bearcats did everything they could to get Sullivan the school record in the final minutes.

He got four cracks at a record-breaking ninth three—the first three of which were really good looks— but missed all of them.

After the fourth attempt that occurred with under 20 seconds left, he left to a huge ovation.

"I wanted it so bad," said Sullivan. "I'll just take the win. It's a big win for us."

One of four teams to advance from Monday's play-in round, Northwest still needs three more victories to win the MIAA Tournament—their only sure path to making the NCAA Tournament.

The Bearcats beat upcoming opponent NSU 73-72 at Bearcat Arena during the regular season, rallying from a first half deficit of 20 points.