From Bryan Boettcher, www.northwestbearcats.com

Hunter Henry scored 19 points to lead five Bearcats in double figures as Northwest Missouri State beat Central Missouri, 77-62, in front of a season-high crowd of more than 1,700 at Bearcat Arena Saturday. The Bearcats (13-4, 5-3 MIAA) have won three in a row, while the Mules (10-7, 3-5) have dropped four straight.  It was a battle of last year’s MIAA co-champions and it quickly became one-sided. Northwest took an 11-point lead into half time and led by as many as 23 in the second half. The Bearcats scored 19 points off 18 Mule turnovers and made 16 of 25 free throws.

From Trevor Berneking, www.gogriffons.com

The Missouri Western Griffons fall in an overtime thriller to the Emporia State Hornets 76-72. The Hornets have now beaten the Griffons three times in a row including six out of the last seven.  With the loss the Griffons fall to 8-9 overall and 2-6 in the MIAA.  The Griffons were led by Lonnel Johnson as he had 19 points and 5 rebounds. Reggie Bunch added 17, Jay McFarland had 12 and Ray Brown added 10 for the Griffons. In the game the Griffons shot 43.8-percent (28-of-64). The Griffons did have ten more rebounds then the Hornets but were only able to hold the Hornets to 46.7-percent (21-of-45) from the field.

From Justin Maskus, www.mssu.edu/athletics  

The Fort Hays State University Tigers shot nearly 50 percent from the field and held a big advantage on the boards, defeating Missouri Southern, 82-76 in front of more than 2,700 fans at Gross Memorial Coliseum in Hays. Southern (11-6, 5-3 MIAA) moves into a three-way tie for second place with Northwest Missouri and Fort Hays in the MIAA.

From Mike Pitts, www.sbuniv.edu/athletics

The #21 SBU Bearcats were upset by the Truman State Bulldogs, 78-58.  D’Ante Harris led SBU’s scoring with 19 points on 8 of 13 from the field. Jim Grabowski added 15 points. Matt Rogers added 10 and recorded 8 blocks.  The Bearcats went to the halftime locker room down by 2, and led by a point, two minutes into the 2nd half, but Truman went on a 20-6 run to take a 13-point lead (44-57) with about ten minutes to play. Truman’s Nick Certa scored 23 for the Bulldogs.