By TOMMY REZAC
St. Joseph Post
The Northwest Missouri State men's basketball team made history Saturday, becoming the first program in NCAA Division II history to produce three consecutive national championships with a 67-58 victory over the Augusta (33-4) at the Ford Center in Evansville, Indiana.
Junior guard Trevor Hudgins put the Bearcats on his back with a game-high 31 points in what was likely his final game in a Northwest uniform.
His 31 points also gives him 2,829 in his career - the new Division II career scoring record. His 168 made three-pointers this season are also a new DII record, as Hudgins is now 17-0 in NCAA tournament games.
The Bearcat bench also provided a spark on both ends of the floor Saturday, outscoring the Augusta bench 19-4.
Northwest (34-5), which won its last 11 games in a row to end the season, captured their third straight national championship, and fourth in five years.
Augusta used the post play of their 7-1 center Tyshaun Crawford to build an 18-12 lead eight minutes into the contest. The Bearcats hit the Jaguars with an 11-2 run which included a pair of three-pointers from Hudgins that gave Northwest a 23-20 lead with 6:40 remaining in the half.
Hudgins tallied 22 first-half points, including four three-pointers. The Bearcats closed the first half on a 27-10 scoring run to take a 39-28 lead into the locker room.
Northwest started the second half on fire, as Hudgins' fifth made three put the Bearcats up 52-34 with 13:47 remaining.
Augusta, which saw a 19-game winning streak snapped Saturday, answered with a 10-0 run, but Luke Waters had a critical bucket with 6:54 left to give Northwest a 54-44 lead.
The Jaguars kept coming, however, and trimmed the Bearcat lead to 57-56 with 2:36 to play. Hudgins sank a pair of free throws with 2:24 left to put the Bearcats back up 59-56.
Eventually, Northwest got enough stops and made enough free throws to lead 64-56 with 45.6 remaining.
Mitch Mascari produced 11 points and four rebounds, while Waters added 12 points and three steals.