MARYVILLE, Missouri - Sophomore point guard Trevor Hudgins hit an lean-in, off-balance jumper at the buzzer to lift No. 1-ranked Northwest Missouri State to a 77-76 victory over No. 17-ranked Missouri Southern at Bearcat Arena.
The triumph clinched Northwest's seventh consecutive MIAA regular season title and was the 31st straight win in Bearcat Arena.
Missouri Southern (19-6 overall, 12-4 MIAA) and Northwest (25-1 overall, 15-1 MIAA) traded blows like a heavyweight title fight in Bearcat Arena. The contest featured 19 lead changes and seven ties, which 16 of the lead changes occurring in the final 20 minutes.
Missouri Southern opened up a 25-18 lead on a Cam Martin bucket with 9:54 left in the first half. Hudgins hit a triple that was followed by back-to-back three-pointers from freshman Wes Dreamer to give Northwest a 27-25 advantage with 7:23 on the clock. Martin hit a pair of free throws to tie it, then Dreamer connected on his third straight three-pointer to the delight of the Bearcat Arena crowd that put Northwest on top 30-27 with 6:52 left in the half.
Hudgins would toss in a layup at the close of the first half to give the Bearcats a 39-33 lead at the break. Northwest drained 10 first-half three-pointers on 19 attempts to shoot 52.6% from distance. Missouri Southern made 12-of-25 field goals and buried four three-pointers in the opening stanza.
The Bearcats kept the Lions at bay in the first six minutes of the second half with a seven-point bulge at 49-42. But the Lions came roaring back behind Martin, Kinzer Lambert and Parker Jennings. Lambert completed an old-fashioned three-point play at 11:56 to give the visitors at 52-51 lead.
Then the highlights bumped up a notch as two top-level collegiate basketball squads played on another plane. Bearcat redshirt freshman Luke Waters, who had picked up two fouls in the opening 100 seconds of the game, came to life in the second half scoring all 17 of his points. Waters hit on 7-of-9 field goals, including 3-of-4 from three-point range. Lambert had also picked up two first-half fouls but came out blazing in the second half. Lambert tallied 18 points on 6-of-8 shooting and went 3-of-5 from deep.
Martin was willing his team to the victory as he poured in 33 points and grabbed 11 rebounds. Martin's last basket of the game came with 5:30 to play and it gave the Lions a 68-67 lead.
Waters sank his third triple of the half to put Northwest back on top 70-68 with 5:10 to play. Clark answered on the next Lions possession with a triple of his own putting the visitors into the lead at 71-70 with 4:49 left.
Bearcat junior Ryan Hawkins scored his 19th point of the game on a basket with 4:07 to play lifting Northwest to a 72-71 advantage. Lambert answered that basket with a putback with 3:49 left giving the Lions a one-point cushion at 73-72.
Clark hit a dagger of a three-pointer with 1:18 left that gave the Lions a four-point lead at 76-72. Following a Missouri Southern timeout, Hudgins came down and knocked in his third three-pointer of the game pulling the Bearcats to within one at 76-75 with 51.4 ticks left. Lambert missed a three-pointer with 28 seconds left and Waters grabbed the missing giving Northwest a chance to retake the lead. Hawkins got the ball into the point and took a shot up that rattled in the room, but Northwest's Diego Bernard touched it above the cylinder forcing an offensive goaltending call against the Bearcats with 9.7 seconds left.
After Northwest committed enough fouls to put Missouri Southern into the bonus, the Bearcats put Braelon Walker to the line for a 1-and-1 with 6.8 seconds left. Walker missed the front end and Hawkins corralled the miss. Hawkins found Hudgins who sped down the floor to the left wing.
Hudgins was met by a pair of Lions defenders, but split them with a jump stop and lifted an off-balance, lean-in jumper that found nothing but the bottom of the net as the clocked hit 0:00.0. Hudgins was mobbed by Bernard and his teammates as the Bearcat student section flooded onto the floor to celebrate the seventh consecutive MIAA regular season title for Northwest. Hudgins game-winner capped a 19-point, six-assist performance.
Northwest will be back in action again Saturday at home against Pittsburg State. The Bearcats and Gorillas will tip at approximately 3:30 p.m.
--- Northwest Athletics ---