Late run lifts Cardinals over Bearcats
By ANTHONY CRANE
The Forum
Northwest sophomore Robby Garcia rises for a shot on Monday at Bearcat Arena.
MARYVILLE, Mo. – Northwest Missouri State battled back from a double-digit deficit and held a late lead, but William Jewell closed with a decisive run to hand the Bearcats a 92-85 loss Monday night at Bearcat Arena.
“Defensively, that was unacceptable,” Booker Scheierman said. “Giving up 92 points on your home floor in game one — that just can’t happen. We scored 85, but we were getting an easy one and they were getting an easy one. You just can’t go back-and-forth like that, so obviously we got to fix some stuff on the defensive end.”
Northwest got off to a fast start with two baskets from Scheierman in the opening minute. The Bearcats led by as many as eight in the opening minutes after a jumper from Barron Silsby made it 13-5 at the 14:53 mark.
The Cardinals then made their run, coming back to tie the game at 17 with 11:20 left in the half. William Jewell didn’t stop there as the Cardinals took a seven-point lead on a jumper from Ashton Jermain at the 8:58 mark.
“The girls got us started and won early and so there was good energy in the building,” Northwest coach Matt Keeley said. “In the first half, I think we played it at practice speed and intensity. The best coaches make practice harder than the game, and it didn’t feel that way for us today.”
The Bearcats trailed by as many as 12 points in the first half before cutting the deficit to 49-41 at halftime. Like the start of the game, Northwest got off to a good start in the second half with baskets from Larenz Walters and Robby Garcia.
The run continued until a jumper from Scheierman put the Bearcats ahead 51-50 with 16:32 left in the game. The Cardinals then went on their best run of the half, outscoring Northwest 13-5 over the game’s next four minutes to take a 64-55 lead.
It wasn’t until late in the second half that the Bearcats made their final run. Garcia’s 3-pointer with 6:38 to go made it 74-71, then added layup moments later to make it a 1-point game.
“He had a great year second semester for us last year and we played through him a lot tonight,” Keeley said. “I think he’s a 3-level guy that can square up and dribble it, or he can put a shoulder into you and lay it in. He can certainly catch and shoot from the perimeter as well, so I expect a lot of games out of him like that.”
Pressley Ibeh gave Northwest its first lead of the half with two free throws with just under five minutes to play. A 3-pointer from Walters at the 3:48 mark put the Bearcats ahead 78-74.
William Jewell responded with a 3-pointer from Ty Romero to regain the lead at 83-81 at the 1:19 mark, but Garcia answered with a basket to tie the game at 83 with 1:05 remaining.
The Cardinals took control from there.
Justice Sutton knocked down a 3-pointer with 41 seconds remaining to give William Jewell a lead for good.
Garcia led the Bearcats with career highs of 25 points and 14 rebounds. Ibeh added 15 points off the bench, while Silsby and Booker Scheierman each finished with 14 points. Walters contributed 10 points and five rebounds in 22 minutes despite early foul trouble.
“We have a good team, and we have a lot of people that can score the ball,” Scheierman said. “We got me, Robby, Barron, Trey, Lorenz—a lot of people who can knock down shots. That’s going to be big for us just because people who can score the ball definitely helps.”
The Bearcats made just 5-of-25 3-point attempts and converted 12-of-25 free throws. William Jewell connected on 11-of-25 attempts from beyond the arc and was nearly perfect at the free-throw line, making 27-of-28.
Northwest will head to St. Joseph for the Hillyard Classic. The Bearcats face Bemidji State at 3 p.m. Friday before taking on St. Cloud State on Saturday.
“Eighty-five wasn’t the problem tonight, 92 was the deal,” Keeley said. “I thought too many of those were either a breakdown or just an easy basket. It seemed like they got more easy baskets than we did and I think that had as much to do with our competitiveness on defense, especially one-one-one. That’s going to be the area we talk a lot about and we’ll be hopeful that 85 is enough most nights.”
