Bearcats keep hot start rolling with fourth-straight win
JON DYKSTRA/THE FORUM
Northwest senior Matthew Mayes drives to the basket on Monday at Bearcat Arena.
MARYVILLE, Mo. — Last season, it took until January 9 for the Northwest Missouri State men’s basketball team to win their fourth game of the season and the Bearcats did not win a home game all season. On November 17, the Bearcats have checked both those boxes already with a 4-1 record already.
Northwest improved to that mark with a 71-47 victory over Missouri Valley for their fourth-straight win after a season-opening loss against Minnesota State. The Bearcats responded with GLVC power Missouri-St. Louis then NSIC bluebloods St. Cloud State and Augustana.
“I watched last year,” senior Aiden Gair said. “I saw how that went. I wanted to get the Bearcat basketball fans back in it. They didn’t deserve what happened last year. We are going to give them a show again.”
Monday’s game against the NAIA opponent was the first chance for Northwest to play on its home court and Gair, a transfer from Millersville, showed the home fans what fans who traveled to St. Joseph for the first four games had already gotten a taste of. Gair had 19 points in the win over UMSL and 20 points in the win over Augustana. On Monday, Gair hit back-to-back 3-pointers on the game’s first two possessions.
“Every game when I walk into the gym, I feel like I’m open,” Gair said. “I’m ready to go. Every shot I shoot, I feel like I’m going to make it and luckily today, I got off to a hot start. Seeing that first one go through means I got that confidence for the rest of the game that it is going to be a good day.”
Junior forward Trey Moala made it 3-for-3 on shooting with a jumper off a Gair assist for an 8-0 lead.
Northwest fell cold for the rest of the half, shooting 6-of-21 from the field and 2-of-14 from 3-point range — even going 2-of-10 from the foul line.
“We came out flat-footed,” Gair said. “It seemed like there was no energy. … We got a bunch of open shots and we just couldn’t hit. Second half, we wanted to make an emphasis to get to the basket and then we’ll make shots, and that is what we did.”
The poor shooting is uncharacteristic of the Bearcats this season, but with those shooting struggles, the halftime lead was just 24-20 for Northwest.
The Bearcats came out of the break getting to the basket with Gair feeding Moala for a dunk. The second basket came off a Royce Williams steal and a pass to Matthew Mayes for a dunk.
Defense continued to fuel the Bearcats with Mayes getting a steal and another dunk. That bucket pushed the lead to 31-22.
“For kinda a throwback, a Jamal Crawford,” Keeley said of Mayes. “An instant microwave off the bench. He is probably one of our five best players or five best scorers, but he gets to come in with that second group and jump-start them.”
The lead quickly grew to double figures as the fast-pace play and aggressive defense continued to grow the lead. Northwest played a 10-man rotation with five bench players getting at least 12 minutes.
Gair finished as the team’s leading scorer with 19 points while Mayes had 12 points off the bench. Moala was the team’s most positive player on the floor with Northwest out-scoring Missouri Valley by 27 points in his 26 minutes. He had eight points and nine rebounds.
Williams had nine points while Booker Scheierman had eight and Larenz Walters had seven.
“As freshman coming off the bench, I’m a freshman so I am very happy with the minutes I get to play,” Walters said. “When I come in, I’m trying to go as hard as I can. … Any time anyone comes off the bench, we go as hard as we possibly can.”
Northwest will head to the Wisconsin Dells this weekend for the JustAGame Crossover. The Bearcats play NSIC powerhouse Northern State on Saturday at 2 p.m. and GLIAC foe Northern Michigan on Sunday at 2 p.m.
“Every team in the country is trying to do the same thing, which is keep getting better,” Keeley said. “What we don’t want to have happen is let the teams who are maybe 1-4 and their urgency allow them to keep getting better (faster than us). Are we tough enough to continue to get better, to not relax, to stay urgent?”
Northwest 85, Augustana 72
Aiden Gair led the Bearcats to a 85-72 win on Saturday in St. Joseph over Augustana. Gair had 20 points on a balanced scoring night for Northwest.
Robby Garcia had 16 points while Matthew Mayes had 15 and Royce Williams added 12 points and a team-high seven rebounds from his point guard spot.
Northwest 71, St. Cloud State 65
On Friday, the Bearcats picked up a 71-65 win over St. Cloud State in St. Joseph.
Jack Ratigan and Royce Williams each had 16 points while Matthew Mayes had 14 and Trey Moala had 10.
