Bearcats fall to top-25 St. Cloud State

Northwest guard Derek Quinlin drives to the basket Saturday in St. Joseph.

ST. JOSEPH, Mo. – The Bearcats are 0-3 after Saturday’s 102-79 loss to St. Cloud State at Missouri Western.  The opportunities have been there for the Bearcats with leads in the final minutes in two of their three games. 

But Saturday was a different vibe for Northwest as St. Cloud controlled all 40 minutes of the game. 

“The same problems that have existed in our first couple of games continued and mainly on the defensive end,” Northwest coach Matt Keeley said. “I thought it was a lack of competitive spirit, and I made sure our guys knew that.”

St. Cloud State opened the game with a 10-3 run, getting two three-pointers from Kynan Philippe during the opening two minutes. Northwest briefly found some offensive rhythm behind Robby Garcia, who knocked down a three-pointer and added a layup to help keep the Bearcats within striking distance at 14-10.

However, the Huskies continued to find openings offensively. After Northwest pulled within three at 16-13 on a 3-pointer from Trey Moala, St. Cloud State answered with a stretch that pushed its advantage to 35-18.

“The problem hasn’t been offense yet,” Keeley said. “It’s certainly been on the defensive end and so we’ve got to find a group that can help us get that done. I still believe in this group. I think this group wants to be good, I just have to do a better job of teaching them and showing them how.”

Bob Griechen helped fuel the run, scoring inside and knocking down a 3-pointer, while Anish Ramlall added a three of his own. The Huskies eventually stretched the lead to 18 points at 39-21.

Northwest showed some life late in the half. Moala scored inside on consecutive possessions, and Garcia added a 3-pointer and a layup as the Bearcats trimmed the deficit to 41-30.

The Huskies responded once again, though, closing the half on a 19-16 stretch to take a 14-point lead into the break.

St. Cloud State wasted little time extending that advantage in the second half. The Huskies scored the first eight points after halftime, pushing the margin to 68-46 and forcing a Northwest timeout less than two minutes into the period.

Keeley said the search for answers is ongoing.

“That’s a million-dollar question, and no, kind of looking without answers,” Keeley said. “I’ve tried different defenses and they haven’t been good. But if I were to be honest and think back to the group that played the last 15 minutes, it looks different from an energy standpoint. It looks different from an energy standpoint, even if it wasn’t necessarily a lot different from an execution standpoint. But it looked better and it was more fun to coach that last 15 minutes.”

Griechen and Wyatt Hawks helped lead the charge as the Huskies continued to attack the paint. A 3-pointer from Lee Marks III pushed the lead to 73-48, and Griechen’s next basket made it 75-50.

Northwest struggled to find an answer as the deficit continued to grow, eventually reaching 26 points at 81-55 with just over 14 minutes remaining.

The Bearcats had a few responses, including a three-pointer from Cole Odefey and a fast-break layup from Jadon Cool, but St. Cloud State maintained a comfortable advantage the rest of the way.

Garcia led Northwest with 13 points, while Moala added 12 points on 5-of-6 shooting. Presley Ibeh finished with 10 points, and Cool and Mikhail Abdul-Hamid each contributed eight.

Griechen led all scorers with 22 points for St. Cloud State. Ramlall and Hawks each added 13, while Marks and Philippe finished with 12 apiece.

Northwest will play again on Friday at home against University of Mary at 7:30 p.m. On Saturday, the Bearcats will host Southwest Minnesota State. 

“I think it’s easier to fix your defense than to fix an offense that doesn’t exist,” Keeley said. “I think the positive is I still believe we have the solutions now, but we still got to do it because it’s about a game of getting it done, right?”