Bearcats drop nail-biter against Mules

JON DYKSTRA/THE FORUM
Northwest freshman Presley Ibeh celebrates Wednesday at Bearcat Arena.

MARYVILLE, Mo. — The strides are abundantly evident in Year 2 of the Matt Keeley era at Northwest Missouri State. Beyond just the 10-7 record compared to last season’s 6-22, the Bearcat fans have been treated to more competitive basketball even in the losses.

But that doesn’t make the near misses any easier for Keeley who was frustrated Wednesday after a 13-4 Central Missouri squad rallied for a 76-72 win in Bearcat Arena.

“That has been a little bit of the barometer of our team this year — we are better, but not as good as we want to be or need to be,” Keeley said. “That is the frustrating part. This group can make the jump.”

Northwest came into the game shorthanded with three rotation players out, Matthew Mayes, Booker Scheierman and Robby Garcia. Without Mayes in the starting lineup, Northwest started three guards with freshman Larenz Walters joining the starters and the team went small all night with both their backup bigs out.

“It gives us three really good decision makers on the floor,” Keeley said. “… That becomes trickier for other teams to guard.”

The first half was back-and-forth the entire way with Northwest surging in front 20-14 on a 3-point play by Walters then a dunk by Mikhail Abdul-Hamid, who had only appeared in three games previously, but was called on for 26 minutes on Wednesday and made a ton of hustle plays with 12 points and three rebounds.

“It is a tough thing to do for anyone when things don’t go your way, to continue to battle,” Keeley said.

Abdul-Hamid’s layup with 27 seconds left in the half put the Bearcats up 35-31 at the break.

Northwest continued to play with the lead in the second half as senior Aiden Gair hit a 3-pointer to grow the lead to 43-35. Central Missouri star Lazerek Houston responded with back-to-back 3-pointers then a layup to tie the game.

“Be more physical in the ball screen,” Northwest freshman Presley Ibeh said of what they can learn from playing against Houston. “Force him off his drive.”

Central Missouri got up by six points on a Kyran Tilley 3-pointer with 10:36 to play and appeared to have all the momentum, but Northwest answered with a 7-0 run capped by a Walters layup off a Gair steal to take the lead.

After the teams traded baskets, Royce Williams and Abdul-Hamid each hit 3-pointers with Abdul-Hamid’s put the Bearcats up 66-61 with 5:39 to play.

“Everyone is there for each other and the next man is always ready to set up,” Abdul-Hamid said.

A Houston 3-pointer cut the lead to one then Tilley put the Mules in front with 2:05 left. The Mules eventually got up by five points on a Jake Fritz basket with 23 seconds left. Trey Moala cut the margin to three and Tilley sealed the win by splitting a pair of foul shots.

Five Bearcats finished in double figure with Williams leading the way with 18 points. Abdul-Hamid had 12, Moala had 11 and Walters and Ibeh had 10 each. Jack Ratigan had six points and Gair had five.

The Mules had Houston score 20 while Trinell Parker and Tilley each scored 19 points.

Northwest faces another tough test on Saturday when the unanimous No. 1 ranked Washburn Ichabods visit Bearcat Arena.

“Take it on the chin, but we are going to be here tomorrow ready to work,” Abdul-Hamid said.