LAKELAND, Fla. – The No. 5 West Texas A&M Buffs suffered their first loss of the year as they dropped the season opener, 78-62, to the defending champion and top ranked Northwest Missouri State Bearcats on Saturday night at the Small College Basketball Hall of Fame Classic.
Three Buffs reached double figures in the loss led by senior
Julius Brown's game-high 22 points. The Westerville, Ohio product shot 8-of-17 from the floor and 6-for-8 from the charity stripe to go along with four assists and two rebounds followed by newcomer Damion Thornton with 13 and
Larry Wise with 12. Thornton and
Addison Wallace each boarded a team-high four rebounds while
Parker Nielsen had a career-high three steals.
Northwest opened scoring in the opening 15-seconds of the Top 5 matchup but was quickly responded with a shot in the paint by Wise to level the field. The Buffs and Bearcats exchanged baskets over the next 10 minutes with neither team grabbing a substantial lead until Northwest used a 10-5 run to lead 25-16 with 9:01 left on the clock.
The Buffs found momentum in the final five minutes of the half as Wise's three cut the Bearcats lead to three, 32-29, before Brown's fastbreak layup put WT on top. With 42 seconds left of the half, Wise posted his seventh point of the game to keep the lead but Northwest's Luke Moustakas evened the score, 36-36, at halftime.
WT grabbed another lead in the opening three minutes of the half until the Bearcats scored 10 straight to lead 51-41 at 13:31. Freshman Brock Mishak's free throws brought the score back within five, 55-50, but Northwest collected another successful run to secure the season opening victory.
The Buffs went 23-of-58 (39.7%) from the field including 5-of-21 (23.8%) from the three and 11-of-17 (64.7%) from the charity stripe to go along with 20 rebounds, nine steals, seven assists, and three blocks.
Northwest went 30-of-43 (69.8%) from the floor including 7-of-13 (53.8%) from deep and 11-of-16 (68.8%) from the free throw line with 32 rebounds, 20 assists, five steals and two blocks. Four Bearcats had double digit scoring led by Mitch Maraci's 18 including five tres, followed by Luke Waters (17), Bennet Stritz (15), and Byron Alexander (12) while Diego Bernard brought down a game-high 14 boards.
WT will finish the SCB Hall of Fame Classic tomorrow afternoon, Nov. 6, against tournament host Florida Southern. Tipoff is set for 4:45 p.m. CT at the Jenkins Field House in Lakeland, Fla.
