EVANSVILLE, Ind. – Qua Grant scored a team-high 20 points as No. 5 West Texas A&M fell 80-54 to No. 4 Northwest Missouri State in the NCAA Division II Men's Basketball Championship Game on Saturday afternoon at the Ford Center in Evansville, Ind. The Buffs finish the season at 19-3 including their third straight trip to the Elite Eight and first appearance in the NCAA DII title game.
Grant went 7-of-17 from the floor as the junior reached the 20-point plateau for the 16th time this season.
Joel Murray finished his junior campaign with 12 points in 37 minutes of action.
added 12 points in 37 minutes action.
The Buffs jumped out to a 6-2 lead in the opening three minutes highlighted by a dunk from
Kavon Booker. Grant opened the scoring with a pair of free throws followed by a floater from
Zach Toussaint. Following a Bearcat turnover, Booker threw it down for two of his six points.
Northwest responded with a 9-0 run to take their first lead of the game capped off with a 3-pointer from Trevor Hudgins. WT responded with a run of their own to tie the game at 13-all at 13:29. Grant hit a corner three followed by a layup from Murray.
The runs continued as the Buffs saw themselves down eight 21-13, will less than 11 minutes remaining before halftime on a pair of free throws from Ryan Hawkins. Booker scored four straight points including his second dunk of the game to keep the deficit at eight, 27-19.
The deficit was nine, 34-25, with five minutes remaining before intermission when the Bearcats went on another 7-0 run before Grant hit a layup to make it 41-27. Grant would score the final points of the first half for the Buffs at 1:44 as they headed to the locker room trailing 48-29.
The Buffs scored five of the first seven points of the second half to cut the lead to 16, 50-34, but that would be the closest they would get as Northern responded with five straight points to put the deficit over 20 points.
WT went cold from the floor and struggled to get a stop later in the half as the Bearcats went on a 14-0 run over five minutes to make it a 32-point game, 69-37.
