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Maryville is at the epicenter of what shapes up to be a wild and crazy final day of the regular season in the MIAA.
The No. 16 Bearcats (20-5, 14-5) are one of four teams currently tied for first place and take on one of the others—No. 10 Missouri Southern—Saturday at 3:30 p.m. on Senior Day at Bearcat Arena.
The winner is guaranteed at least a share of the conference title and could win it outright if fellow first-place occupants Central Missouri and Washburn both lose.
That scenario is highly unlikely, though, with Central Missouri hosting Truman and Washburn hosting Lincoln.
In the event that Northwest and the other two home teams win, the Bearcats would wind up as the second seed in a three-way tiebreaker behind Central Missouri. If it's just Washburn and Northwest, the Bearcats would get the No. 1 seed.
The Northwest-Southern loser could finish as low as fourth in the MIAA, a devastating scenario for the Bearcats who held a 1.5 lead with three play. Northwest would enter the MIAA Tournament on a three-game losing streak and its NCAA Tournament hopes would be in serious trouble.
Northwest fell from fourth to seventh in the South Central Region Wednesday, leaving them with little margin for error.
On the other hand, a win would guarantee them a top two seed in the MIAA Tournament and lock up a berth in the NCAA Tournament.
"A win can change everything," said Northwest Missouri State head coach Ben McCollum. "One, it just gets you confidence right back. We saw that last year when we beat Hays out there. It changed our whole season. If we can get one big win, hopefully it will be Saturday, then I think we'll gain some confidence going into the conference tournament that we can play well. We just haven't played well in so long. We got to start playing well."
After seven straight wins, the Bearcats whiffed on their first two chances to clinch a share of the title, losing back-to-back games for the first time to Central Missouri and Southwest Baptist.
In both instances, the Bearcats gave up 59 second-half points, just two less than what they give up over a full game.
"I think we lost a little ability to grind and do what it takes to win," said McCollum. "We've practiced great. It's just not carrying over right now."
Maryville is at the epicenter of what shapes up to be a wild and crazy final day of the regular season in the MIAA.
The No. 16 Bearcats (20-5, 14-5) are one of four teams currently tied for first place and take on one of the others—No. 10 Missouri Southern—Saturday at 3:30 p.m. on Senior Day at Bearcat Arena.
The winner is guaranteed at least a share of the conference title and could win it outright if fellow first-place occupants Central Missouri and Washburn both lose.
That scenario is highly unlikely, though, with Central Missouri hosting Truman and Washburn hosting Lincoln.
In the event that Northwest and the other two home teams win, the Bearcats would wind up as the second seed in a three-way tiebreaker behind Central Missouri. If it's just Washburn and Northwest, the Bearcats would get the No. 1 seed.
The Northwest-Southern loser could finish as low as fourth in the MIAA, a devastating scenario for the Bearcats who held a 1.5 lead with three play. Northwest would enter the MIAA Tournament on a three-game losing streak and its NCAA Tournament hopes would be in serious trouble.
Northwest fell from fourth to seventh in the South Central Region Wednesday, leaving them with little margin for error.
On the other hand, a win would guarantee them a top two seed in the MIAA Tournament and lock up a berth in the NCAA Tournament.
"A win can change everything," said Northwest Missouri State head coach Ben McCollum. "One, it just gets you confidence right back. We saw that last year when we beat Hays out there. It changed our whole season. If we can get one big win, hopefully it will be Saturday, then I think we'll gain some confidence going into the conference tournament that we can play well. We just haven't played well in so long. We got to start playing well."
After seven straight wins, the Bearcats whiffed on their first two chances to clinch a share of the title, losing back-to-back games for the first time to Central Missouri and Southwest Baptist.
In both instances, the Bearcats gave up 59 second-half points, just two less than what they give up over a full game.
"I think we lost a little ability to grind and do what it takes to win," said McCollum. "We've practiced great. It's just not carrying over right now."
The Bearcats know they have to be better defensively to have any chance of slowing down Southern—the top scoring team in the MIAA.
Southern scored 84 points against Northwest in the first meeting and has two of the top three scorers in the MIAA in its starting five.
Center Keanne Thomann is the league's leading scorer with 21.6 ppg and is a leading contender for MIAA Player of the Year. Another league MVP candidate is Jason Adams who averages 18.2 points per game, third-best in the MIAA.
The Bearcats held Thomann to eight points in the first matchup, but Adams went off for 31.
Sophomore Marquis Addison also had a big game with 17 points.
"If you focus too much on those two, then somebody else kind of gets off on you," said McCollum. "Focus on all of them and we just got to compete ourselves. That's our No. 1 objective is to compete ourselves. If we do that, I think we'll have a good shot."
The Lions (22-5, 14-5) have had the entire week to prepare for Northwest after surviving Fort Hays in overtime Saturday. It was their sixth straight win and second in a row that lasted beyond regulation.
Southern's 84-76 win over Northwest in Joplin was their seventh straight in the series.
This is the fourth year in a row the two teams have met on the final day of the season.
Never before have the ramifications of the game been this big.
"I just try to view it as another game," said McCollum. "I think the outside perception says it is (a big game) because you're playing for a little bit more. We just to get back to what we've been doing well and we will."
