UNK Back at Home Next Friday Night
Kearney, Neb. – Three-time defending national champion and top-ranked Northwest Missouri State had five score in double figures to pull away from Nebraska Kearney, 84-74, Saturday evening in Maryville, Mo. The Bearcats (9-0, 3-0) have now won 20 straight dating back to last season and are 167-12 since the start of the 2017-18 campaign. One of those rare losses was to UNK (2-7, 0-3). UNK, among Division II's top shooting teams, was at it again as they connected on 64% of its first half shots to trail by just a 44-38 count at the break. Northwest, allowing teams to shoot 43% on the year, led after 20 minutes thanks to 22 points off 10 Loper miscues. A paint bucket by Wahoo senior forward Winston Cook made it 57-51 seven minutes into the second half and that's when Northwest made it's run. The 'Cats used a 12-4 spurt to open up a double digit lead it wouldn't relinquish. Eight of the points came at the line; Northwest finished the afternoon a solid 19 of 21. "For a young team to go on the home floor of the number seven team (Minnesota Duluth) in the country and play them to a six-point game and to play these guys to a 10-point game. You'd obviously like to win both games but you see a lot of good things," said UNK head coach Kevin Lofton on the KRVN Radio postgame show. "Jamison continues to develop as our primary ball-handler and Darrian continues to carry us. Ryder is starting to find himself and understand what we are trying to do." Four Loper starters scored in double digits, led by Utah super senior forward Darrian Nebeker (17) and Colorado sophomore guard Sean Evans (15). The pair combined to go 13 of 24 (3 of 8 threes) from the field. Next, South Dakota redshirt sophomore forward Ryder Kirsch tallied 14 points and six rebounds with Iowa true freshman point guard Jamison Gruber at 13 points and four boards. Off the bench, Cook hit all three shots he took to score seven while also grabbing four caroms. "We had some stretches where we did some decent things defensively. It's so unforgiving when you play (Northwest). If you're one step slow on a rotation a guy is going to knock down a three," said Lofton. "The rarely turn it over, they rarely miss a free throw. They don't make a lot of mistakes and that's why they are at where they are at." Northwest was paced by All-American guard Diego Bernard (19 points, four assists, four steals and three rebounds), Lincoln forward Wes Dreamer (15 points, four rebounds) and veteran forward Luke Waters (19 points, seven rebounds, two dimes). "They've changed up what they've done. When Trevor (Hudgins) was there, he'd either score it or get someone an easy opportunity," said Lofton. "Now the ball is a little bit more free flowing and more guys are getting the opportunity to be aggressive." UNK hosts Newman (Friday) and nationally-ranked Central Oklahoma (Sunday) next weekend. The change in schedule is due to Winter Graduation.
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