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PITTSBURG —
The Pittsburg State men had No. 22-ranked and co-MIAA top dog Northwest Missouri trailing by six points about midway through the second half, an upset victory in sight of the Gorillas and the 3,363 fans at John Lance Arena.
However, the Bearcats of Northwest Missouri simply made the plays and the shots down the stretch, earning a 78-74 win Saturday afternoon.
“It’s extremely hard,” Pitt State head coach Kevin Muff said. “We put a lot of preparation into this game. . . . It’s a very fine line (between winning and losing). We’re not able to finish (games) right now.”
Pitt State forced Northwest into 11 second-half turnovers and this factor helped Pitt State gain its first lead of the game with 13:24 remaining on a pair of Marky Nolen free throws, 45-43.
On back-to-back possessions prior to Nolen’s free throws, Rico Pierrevilus scored his only six points of the contest on an uncontested 3-pointer at the top of the circle and an old-fashioned three-point play.
Andra Bailey’s aggressiveness on the offensive glass and tip-in of an Arjok Guguai miss resulted in Pitt State’s largest advantage of the game, 50-44.
However, in the long run, aggressiveness cost Pitt State.
With a 62-61 lead and 3:17 remaining on the clock, Bailey went for a shot block on the attempted 3-pointer of Northwest guard DeAngelo Hailey. Bailey thought he caught all ball and the John Lance Arena faithful agreed with Bailey — however, Bailey was called for his third personal foul and Hailey swished three straight foul shots.
On the next Bearcat possession, Hailey spotted up in the corner and a penetrating DeShaun Cooper drew the PSU defense and dished to a wide-open Hailey. Hailey caught and shot in rhythm for a quick 67-62 Northwest lead.
Cooper, the smallest player on the floor in stature (5-foot-7), stepped up big with nine of his 19 points scored in the final 2:16.
Northwest swept Pitt State this season and won the first contest in overtime, 73-70. The Bearcats made 30 of 32 free throws in Maryville — including 17-18 shooting by guard Bryston Williams — and hit 26 of 33 on Saturday. Pitt State made two less free throws on the same amount of attempts Saturday by victorious Northwest.
“Offensively, I thought we were better tonight,” Muff said. “Overall, I’d say it’s comparable to how we played up there.”
Eric Ray led Pitt State with 19 points and five assists, counterbalanced by a team-high five turnovers. Bailey had 14 points, nine rebounds and five steals. Courtney Ingram scored a second-best 15 points and Nolen added 10.
The Pittsburg State men had No. 22-ranked and co-MIAA top dog Northwest Missouri trailing by six points about midway through the second half, an upset victory in sight of the Gorillas and the 3,363 fans at John Lance Arena.
However, the Bearcats of Northwest Missouri simply made the plays and the shots down the stretch, earning a 78-74 win Saturday afternoon.
“It’s extremely hard,” Pitt State head coach Kevin Muff said. “We put a lot of preparation into this game. . . . It’s a very fine line (between winning and losing). We’re not able to finish (games) right now.”
Pitt State forced Northwest into 11 second-half turnovers and this factor helped Pitt State gain its first lead of the game with 13:24 remaining on a pair of Marky Nolen free throws, 45-43.
On back-to-back possessions prior to Nolen’s free throws, Rico Pierrevilus scored his only six points of the contest on an uncontested 3-pointer at the top of the circle and an old-fashioned three-point play.
Andra Bailey’s aggressiveness on the offensive glass and tip-in of an Arjok Guguai miss resulted in Pitt State’s largest advantage of the game, 50-44.
However, in the long run, aggressiveness cost Pitt State.
With a 62-61 lead and 3:17 remaining on the clock, Bailey went for a shot block on the attempted 3-pointer of Northwest guard DeAngelo Hailey. Bailey thought he caught all ball and the John Lance Arena faithful agreed with Bailey — however, Bailey was called for his third personal foul and Hailey swished three straight foul shots.
On the next Bearcat possession, Hailey spotted up in the corner and a penetrating DeShaun Cooper drew the PSU defense and dished to a wide-open Hailey. Hailey caught and shot in rhythm for a quick 67-62 Northwest lead.
Cooper, the smallest player on the floor in stature (5-foot-7), stepped up big with nine of his 19 points scored in the final 2:16.
Northwest swept Pitt State this season and won the first contest in overtime, 73-70. The Bearcats made 30 of 32 free throws in Maryville — including 17-18 shooting by guard Bryston Williams — and hit 26 of 33 on Saturday. Pitt State made two less free throws on the same amount of attempts Saturday by victorious Northwest.
“Offensively, I thought we were better tonight,” Muff said. “Overall, I’d say it’s comparable to how we played up there.”
Eric Ray led Pitt State with 19 points and five assists, counterbalanced by a team-high five turnovers. Bailey had 14 points, nine rebounds and five steals. Courtney Ingram scored a second-best 15 points and Nolen added 10.
Cooper led Northwest with 19 points on 11-13 at the foul line and had eight assists, six turnovers and three rebounds.
Hailey and Justin Clark both shot lights out at times from 3-point range — an identical 4-7 performance — en route to 17 points from Hailey (5-5 on free throws) and 15 from Clark. Big man Jake Reinders added 10 points and four rebounds. Northwest improved to 17-3 and 11-3 MIAA.
The Gorillas (12-10, 8-7 MIAA) have lost three straight games — Central Missouri on the road and Southwest Baptist and Northwest at home — and have dropped from a tie for second to a tie for sixth with Baptist. However, the Gorillas remain 3 1/2 games ahead of eighth-place Emporia State.
Losing streaks do not snap easily against Missouri Southern in Joplin and the Gorillas play the Lions in the Sonic Trophy Series Game on Wednesday.
“We’ll be up for it,” Muff said. “We’ll be ready to play.”
In other MIAA games on Saturday, Central Missouri defeated Lincoln 78-58, Washburn beat Fort Hays State 79-67, Southwest Baptist defeated Truman 68-49 and Missouri Southern defeated Missouri Western 85-69.
No. 22 BEARCATS 78, GORILLAS 74
NORTHWEST MISSOURI (78) — DeShaun Cooper 4-9 11-13 19, DeAngelo Hailey 4-9 5-5 17, Justin Clark 5-8 1-2 15, Jake Reinders 4-9 2-3 10, Bryston Williams 1-3 5-6 8, Kyle Haake 2-3 0-0 5, Matt Wallace 1-2 0-0 2, Dillon Starzl 0-2 2-4 2, Alex Sullivan 0-1 0-0 0, Tyler Funk 0-1 0-0 0, Kyle Schlake 0-0 0-0 0. Totals: 21-47 26-33 78.
PITTSBURG STATE (74) — Eric Ray 4-10 9-12 19, Courtney Ingram 5-8 3-4 15, Andra Bailey 5-15 4-8 14, Marky Nolen 2-6 6-6 10, JaVon McGee 3-6 0-0 7, Rico Pierrevilus 2-3 1-1 6, Drake Green 1-2 1-2 3, Sam Pugh 0-2 0-0 0, Arjok Guguai 0-1 0-0 0, Demetrius Virginia 0-0 0-0 0, Ian Ponds 0-0 0-0 0. Totals: 22-53 24-33 74.
Halftime — NWMSU 35, PSU 33. 3-point goals — NWMSU 10-24 (Clark 4-7, Hailey 4-7, Haake 1-2, Williams 1-2, Cooper 0-4, Sullivan 0-1, Funk 0-1), PSU 6-14 (Ingram 2-3, Ray 2-5, McGee 1-1, Pierrevilus 1-1, Nolen 0-3, Bailey 0-1). Rebounds — NWMSU 28 (Starzl 9), PSU 39 (Bailey 9). Assists — NWMSU 15, PSU 12. Turnovers — NWMSU 22, PSU 22. Steals — NWMSU 3, PSU 12 (Bailey 5). Personal fouls — NWMSU 27, PSU 26. Fouled out — Ingram, PSU; Pierrevilus, PSU. Technical fouls — Clark, NWMSU; Ray, PSU. A — 3,363.
