Northwest Missouri State: 2021 NCAA Division II Men's Basketball National Champions

EVANSVILLE, Indiana – The Northwest Missouri State University men's basketball team captured the program's third NCAA Division II national championship with an 80-54 victory over the West Texas A&M University Buffaloes Saturday in the Ford Center.

 

The Bearcats left no doubt they are the premier men's basketball program at the Division II level by running roughshod through the Elite Eight. Northwest won its three games by a total margin of 78 points – setting the Elite Eight record that was set previously by Jefferson in the 1970 tournament (75 points).

 

The 26-point win ranks as the second-largest margin of victory in the championship game. North Carolina Central won the 1989 national title by a 27-point margin.

 

Senior Ryan Hawkins was named the Most Outstanding Player at the Elite Eight as he poured in a championship game-high 31 points and 18 rebounds. Hawkins buried 10-of-16 shots from the floor, including 2-of-3 from deep. He was 9-of-10 at the line.

 

Sophomore Wes Dreamer shouldered a heavy scoring load in the win over West Texas A&M as he tallied 19 points on 8-of-11 shooting. Dreamer connected on 3-of-5 from three-point land and snared his third career double-double with 11 rebounds.

 

Junior Trevor Hudgins, who was also named to the all-tournament team, contributed with 15 points, five assists and two steals. He finished his season with an NCAA-high 90 made three-pointers.

 

Sophomore Luke Waters was the fourth Bearcat in double-figure scoring with 13 points

 

West Texas A&M held a short-lived 6-2 lead nearly three minutes into the contest. Northwest responded to the deficit with a 9-0 that relied heavily on Hawkins and Hudgins. Hawkins buried a pair of free throws with 11:12 to play in the half and at that point Hawkins or Hudgins had scored all 19 of Northwest's points.

 

The Bearcats opened up a working margin with a 19-6 run in which Dreamer scored the final eight points to give Northwest a 32-19 lead with 7:32 left in the half. Northwest continued to build on its lead and took a 19-point bulge into the locker room at 48-29. Northwest's balance offense featured 15 points from Hawkins and Hudgins, while Dreamer contributed with 12 first-half points. Northwest held West Texas A&M to its lowest first-half point total of the season at 29.

 

Northwest's defensive prowess took over as West Texas A&M could muster only 10 points through the first 13:53 of the second half. While the Buffaloes were stumbling, the Bearcats were continuing to increase its lead. Northwest would lead by as many as 35 in the second half at 74-39 with 7:34 left to play.

 

The Bearcats shot 50% from the field (27-of-54) and knocked in 46.7% of their three-point shots (7-of-15). The Buffaloes struggled to find their mark shooting 31.3% for the game (20-of-64) and only 20.8% from three-point range (5-of-24).

 

West Texas A&M's scoring duo of Qua Grant and Joel Murray combined to score 32 points in Saturday's championship game. Grant tallied 20 points (7-of-17 FGs), while Murray battled foul trouble and was limited to 12 points (7-of-17 FGs). The pair came into the contest averaging nearly 45 points per game.

Elite Eight All-Tournament Team

Ryan Hawkins, Northwest Mo. St. - Most Outstanding Player

Trevor Hudings, Northwest Mo. St.

Qua Grant, West Texas A&M

JoJo Murray, West Texas A&M

Jordan Guest, Lincoln Memorial

NOTES: Northwest is 3-0 in national championship games ... Northwest is 34-20 all-time in NCAA Tournament play ... Head coach Ben McCollum recorded his 300th career coaching victory in the win over West Texas A&M. McCollum has guided Northwest to a mark of 300-78 over 12 seasons … McCollum is 23-5 in NCAA Tournament play ... McCollum is 35-3 as a coach in the month of March ... Northwest has won 17 of its last 18 NCAA Tournament games … Northwest previously captured men's basketball national championships in 2017 and 2019 … the Bearcat football program won NCAA Division II national titles in 1998, 1999, 2009, 2013, 2015 and 2016 … the Bearcats have won 43 straight games on neutral floors … Northwest is 97-3 over the past three seasons … Northwest is 159-8 over the last five seasons … Northwest's 28 wins this season is the most of any NCAA Division II school … the 28 wins for the Bearcats ties them with Gonzaga for the most NCAA men's basketball victories this season.

Shawnee State: 2021 NAIA Men's Basketball National Champions

 

It was a dream season, indeed.

A fairytale, even.

However, this story is no fairytale -- it's reality.

In Tuesday evening's NAIA National Championship Game, the Shawnee State men's basketball program capped off a dream season, winning its 27th consecutive game en route to its first-ever NAIA Men's Basketball National Championship with a 74-68 victory over Lewis-Clark State (Idaho) Tuesday evening at Municipal Auditorium in Kansas City, Mo.

Shawnee State's men's basketball program (31-2) became the first team since the famed 1998-1999 SSU Women's Basketball program to win a national championship, with these Bears sweeping the Mid-South Conference Regular Season, MSC Conference Tournament, and NAIA National Championship hardware along the path. It's the second group in school history to win a team championship. Seth Farmer's 2019 Men's Indoor Track and Field National Championship in the one mile also joins the group as the national champions at Shawnee State.

SSU, who finished the season with the same mark as the 1998-99 group when it won its national championship -- led for 38:37 of the game's 40 minutes in defeating Lewis-Clark State for the national title.

The Bears, who led by as much as 14 points during the affair, had their lead wittled down to three (65-62), but allowed the Warriors to get no closer in claiming their first-ever national championship.

Defense wins championships

In classic fashion, Shawnee State won the affair with its excellent defensive work as a unit. The Bears held Lewis-Clark State (Idaho) to just 34.8 percent shooting and 31.3 percent shooting from three-point range in the six-point win.

To show how good the Bears' defense was on this day, Shawnee State held Lewis-Clark State (Idaho)'s Trystan Bradley, Hodges Bailey and Travis Yenor to just 6-of-25 shooting and 18 points total between the trio. They averaged 15.9, 13.1 and 10.3 points per game coming into tonight's affair.

Jones caps off Tournament MVP performance in style

Continuing to ball out as he has all season long, James Jones saved one of his best performances of the season for last in the 74-68 win.

Jones, who notched 12 points and six rebounds at the half, added in 15 points and four more boards off the glass en route to a 27-point, 10-rebound effort.

Beyond his clutch bucket-getting mentality -- including a huge three-pointer with 8:18 to go that put the Bears up by a 59-51 margin -- Jones was poised from the free throw line, as well. The senior went 7-of-9 from the charity stripe in the game, including a critical 5-of-6 mark over the game's final 26 seconds to lock up the national championship and bring it home to Portsmouth and Scioto County.

For the season, Jones finished the 2020-21 campaign averaging 20 points per game exactly. He averaged 23 points, seven rebounds, 4.8 assists and 1.3 steals per game while shooting 48.6 percent (34-of-70) for the tournament.

Gilmore huge down stretch

Time after time in the second half, it wasn't just Jones coming up with big plays -- but Amier Gilmore, as well.

With star big man EJ Onu saddled on the bench due to foul trouble, Gilmore played his best game of the NAIA National Tournament in the biggest of moments, scoring 10 of his 14 points in the second half of competition. The junior went 5-of-7 overall from the field and added in six rebounds to boot in the win.

In addition to making a huge impact in Tuesday evening's victory, Gilmore, along with fellow teammates Latavious Mitchell and Miles Thomas, didn't lose a single game they appeared in for the Bears as the trio went a perfect 25-0 in their 2020-21 appearances.

Onu caps four-year career with national title

Capping off undoubtedly the greatest four-year career in the history of the Shawnee State men's basketball program -- and one of the greatest four-year careers at Shawnee State regardless of sport -- EJ Onu saw out the reclamation process that he and fourth-year head coach DeLano Thomas started all the way to the finish line in the six-point win.

Winners of 14 games their first two seasons together, the pair showcased their incredible leadership skills at all stops throughout the last two seasons, leading Shawnee State to a 52-13 overall record over the 2019-20 and 2020-21 campaigns and capping it off with the NAIA Red Banner to boot.

Onu now holds 1,578 points, 866 rebounds and 529 blocks for his career to post numbers that are in the top-five all-time in each category. He finished just 78 blocks off of the NAIA's record for blocks in a career while adding never-before-seen defensive highlight reels and numbers that will be remembered for a lifetime.

Additional

Along with the above trio, Miles Thomas posted eight huge first-half points and four rebounds to finish with 10 points and six rebounds in all, while Issac Abergut finished with six points, Donoven Carlisle five, and Jakiel Wells four. Latavious Mitchell's two points were arguably the loudest of the evening, as his putback dunk midway through the first half was a much-needed punctuation for the Bears and rounded out the scoring.

Kobie Johnson, Tre Beard, Shawn Paris, Jr., Markus Geldenhuys, Bailey Davis, Corie Blount, Jr. and Desmond Crosby, Jr. were all integral parts to the success of the 2020-21 Shawnee State unit as players and practice hands, while Thomas, Lindal Yarbrough, Zack Kelly, Jack Trainer, Justin Patrick and Levi Roberts represent the members of the first-ever Shawnee State men's basketball unit to win a championship in program history.

A national championship parade and a following celebration will be conducted tomorrow evening at 7 p.m. in Portsmouth. Much more information will be coming in the minutes and hours to follow.

For more information on SSU Bears Athletics, visit www.ssubears.com or visit the Twitter and Facebook pages at https://twitter.com/SSUBears and https://www.facebook.com/SSUBears. For more information on how to join the SSU Bear Club or for sponsorship of specific SSU players or events, visit https://givetossu.com/bear-club and https://givetossu.com/sponsorthebears.