Northwest passes final test before MIAA play opens

JON DYKSTRA/THE FORUM
Northwest senior Aiden Gair drives to the basket Wednesday at Bearcat Arena.

MARYVILLE, Mo. — Northwest Missouri State head coach Matt Keeley had the toughest job in the country last season, taking over a dynasty from a guy who is now the head coach at the University of Iowa. Keeley has never downplayed the responsibility that comes with that.

“We love to embrace the tradition of what we are,” Keeley said. “We are currently holding the baton in the history of Northwest. … The journey here started us at 6-2 and we have to continue getting better. I don’t know how the story is going to be written.”

Last year didn’t go the way that either he or Bearcat fans hoped with a 6-22 overall record with a roster that was largely assembled to play Ben McCollum’s style. This offseason, the Bearcats were busy bringing in players to play Keeley’s up-tempo style.

“We had good college basketball players on our team last year, but there are different ways to play it,” Keeley said. “The pieces that we have this year probably fit what we are trying to do a little bit better.”

The results have spoken for themselves through the first month of the season with the fast-paced Bearcats sprinting out to a 6-2 start in the pre-conference season — matching the win total from last season already. Northwest capped that portion of the schedule on Wednesday with a 97-59 victory over NAIA-opponent York.

“We’ve really tried to focus on how every game, scrimmage, outing is going to teach us something,” Keeley said.

Northwest got going with a 3-pointer by senior Aiden Gair followed by a steal and dunk from Jack Ratigan. Gair knocked in another triple to push the margin to 10-5 early.

York hung around at 16-11, but freshman Larenz Walters went on a personal 7-0 run with two foul shots, a jumper and then a 3-pointer. Royce Williams added a 3-pointer and Matthew Mayes finished a dunk off a Gair assist.

Back-to-back 3-pointers for Gair extended the lead to 34-15 and the Bearcats settled in to a 41-22 halftime margin.

“Aiden is certainly going to make something happen, good or bad,” Keeley smiled. “It is usually good. There are times that we love him, and there are times when we want to tackle him. Tonight was one of those night’s it was more on the right side. He is certainly a guy who brings a fire and passion to it and a flair as well at times — certainly doesn’t lack for confidence.”

The second half opened with an 8-0 run by the Bearcats highlighted by a Ratigan steal to trigger a fast break where Gair threw an alley-oop to Mayes for the jam.

“Me and Aiden have that connection where he just throws it up to the rim, and I just dunk it,” Mayes said.

The lead got up to 36 on a 3-pointer from freshman Booker Scheierman and a jumper by Trey Moala. Another freshman big Robby Garcia made it 78-39 with a 3-pointer.

“They are two really good freshmen,” Keeley said. “The program here through the years has been to rely on guys that have been in the program for a long time. We are starting to build that up a little bit.”

The lead got to 43 points before York closed the game with a run to tighten it up to a 97-59 final score.

“We learned a lot last year,” Moala said. “We addressed the little things early, tried to get on top of those, and the group fits the style. A lot of guys who can run.”

Gair led the Northwest with 19 points including 5-of-11 from three. Garcia was ultra-efficient off the bench with 17 points on 6-of-8 shooting and 3-of-4 from three.

Mayes added 13 points and eight rebounds while Moala had 10 points and seven rebounds. Northwest won the rebounding battle 53-32 with 12 offensive rebounds.

“Coach had ‘rebound’ written on the board for the last couple days,” Moala said. “He has talked about that every day before every practice and every workout. It was good that we were able to win that battle.”

The Bearcats open MIAA on Tuesday in St. Joseph against Missouri Western. The game tips at 7:30 p.m. following the women’s game.

“Keeley has guys who play his style,” Moala said. “Like I said, we can get up the floor fast and Matt (Mayes) can get on the rim a bit.”