Men's Basketball | 3/4/2018 6:49:36 PM
Kansas City, Mo. – Chris-Ebou Ndow went 6-6 from the free throw line in the final 41 seconds and Ryan Welty scored 21 points as the seventh-ranked Northwest Missouri Bearcats took out third seed Washburn University 80-74 to win the 2018 MIAA Championship inside historic Municipal Auditorium.
Northwest Missouri (27-3) becomes the first team, and just the second overall, since Southeast Missouri in 1985-87 to win three-straight MIAA Tournament Titles.
Welty led the Bearcats with 21 points on 5-of-6 from long range and 6-of-6 from the free throw line. Ndow had 16 points, while Xavier Kurth scored 15 and Joey Witthus had 12.
Washburn (22-9) was led by 22 points and 13 rebounds for Brady Skeens. Randall Smith scored 14, while Javion Blake scored 13.
Skeens scored the Ichabods’ first four points and Blake hit a jumper with 17:38 to give Washburn a quick 6-1 lead over the Bearcats. A pair of free throws from Randall Smith made the Washburn lead 8-5 two minutes later, but the Bearcats stormed back. Northwest went on a 13-2 run over the next five minutes and led 18-10 after a layup from Dougherty.
The lead was nine (24-15) after a three from Welty with nine to go, but Washburn answered with a 6-0 run to get back within three (24-21) after a layup from Will McKee with 7:28 left in the first half.
Northwest led 36-24 with 2:37 left in the half after another three from Welty and a jumper from Xavier Kurth with 27 seconds left gave the Bearcats a 41-26 lead. A final bucket from David Salach as time expired made the halftime score 41-28, Bearcats.
Washburn got within eight (42-34) after a pair of free throws from Smith, but a three from Ndow made the score 47-34 and a layup from Ryan Hawkins gave the Bearcats a 49-36 lead with 16:19 to go in the second half.
The Ichabods, as they had all game, answered back with a 14-2 run and got to within six (51-45) with 13:24 left after a pair of free throws from Skeens.
Welty hit another big three to stop the run and put Northwest back up nine, but a three-point play from Smith got the Ichabods back within four (59-55) with 10:17 left in the game. A free throw from Skeens with 4:31 left made the score 69-66, Northwest, but a steal and a layup from Xavier Kurth the next trip down put the Bearcats back up five.
The Bearcats led by five with one minute left, but a layup from Skeens with 45 seconds on the clock made the score 73-70. Two free throws from Ndow put the lead back at five (75-70) and after a jumper from Blake, Ndow calmly made two more free throws to give the Bearcats a 77-72 lead with 29 seconds left.
Blake made another big shot, this time with 15 seconds left on the clock to cut it to three (77-74), but Ndow again hit two more free throws and Witthus hit a late freebie to ice the game.
Northwest senior guard Justin Pitts played sparingly in the game due to injury, but Pitts was named the Tournament’s Most Outstanding Player. Welty joined Pitts on the All-Tournament team, as well as Blake and Skeens from Washburn and Hadley Gillum from Fort Hays State.
Northwest earns the MIAA’s Automatic Qualification to the 2018 NCAA Tournament and the field will be announced tonight at 9:30 pm on NCAA.com.