Box Score Kearney, Neb. – Top-ranked Northwest Missouri State sank 14 three pointers and got a combined 61 points from Justin Pitts and Zach Schneider to beat Nebraska-Kearney, 88-71, Thursday night in Maryville.

The Bearcats (17-0, 9-0) win a 21st consecutive MIAA game while the second-place Lopers fall to 12-5 (5-3). This was the only meeting between the two teams this year.

Northwest came in averaging 10 made threes per night thanks to 45 percent shooting from long range. They lived up to that billing by sinking 14 of 26 long range shots with Schneider (8 of 11) and Pitts (5 of 9) doing most of the damage.

"Obviously, they are number one for a reason. In the second half, they would get up, we would battle back. They would get up, we would battle back," said UNK head coach Kevin Lofton. "We just couldn't get over the hump and then they really spurted the last seven or eight minutes."

Northwest started the second half on a 14-0 run to open up a 46-31 lead by the 15:49 mark. This key stretch featured threes from Pitts and Schneider. UNK had one more run in them as a three from sophomore guard Isaiah McKay (Brooklyn Park, Minn.) made it 60-56 with 7:53 to play. Schneider, however, responded with two triples in the next two minutes to give his team a 68-60 advantage and the 'Cats lead just grew from there.

"I thought our kids competed. I wanted to see where we were from a mental toughness standpoint. I wanted to see where we were from a fundamental and a work ethic standpoint," said Lofton. "We did those things well for the most part."

A National Player of the Year candidate, Pitts (5-9, 143 lbs.) went for 37 points on 14 of 22 shooting. The junior guard also had seven assists and six defensive rebounds. Schneider, a 6-7 senior forward, reached his point total by making those 8 of 11 threes. Norwegian Chris Ebou-Nodow (10 points & six rebounds) was the other Northwest player in double figures.

McKay paced the Lopers by scoring 22 points to tie a career-high. He achieved that by sinking 9 of 18 (4 of 10 threes) shots. Last November, he went for 22 in a loss to Southern Nazarene (Okla.).

Next, York junior guard Ty Danielson made 7 of 8 free throws to tally 16 with Iowa junior forward Trey Lansman supplying 18 points and six rebounds. Finally, off the bench, Iowa freshman forward Kyle Juhl had six points and four rebounds in 23 minutes.

Kearney is at Missouri Western State on Saturday afternoon. The Griffons (9-6, 3-4) fell to Fort Hays State, 74-69, on Thursday.