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BASKETBALL

from 2020 Cats Guide

from 2020 Cats Guide, page 34

ATHLETE SURVIVAL GUIDE

ANDREW WEGLEY | NW MISSOURIAN Northwest men’s basketball coach Ben McCollum is getting set for his 11th year at the helm of the program. His record is 241-75.

STILL ON TOP After its title defense was cut short last season, Northwest men’s basketball wants more

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OF THE BEARCATS

ANDREW WEGLEY Managing Editor | @andrewwegley

Northwest men’s basketball won the last game of its 2019- 2020 season, though it didn’t result in the championship celebration the Bearcats had in mind for the end of their season, one they entered hoping to defend their 2019 NCAA Division II National Championship.

Instead, the Bearcats season ended unknowingly March 8 at Municipal Auditorium in Kansas City, Missouri, where Northwest beat Missouri Southern 78-76 for the team’s fi fth consecutive MIAA Tournament Championship and 31st win of the season.

Four days later, as the Bearcats prepped for the Division II Central Region Tournament, the NCAA canceled all winter championship tournaments due to the COVID-19 pandemic, ending Northwest’s season before its national title defense ever really started and ending the collegiate basketball careers of three seniors.

“I’m happy for those guys,” then-sophomore guard Trevor Hudgins said of the team’s seniors. “I just wish we could give them a little better ending to this fairytale.”

Now, months after their season was ripped away from them, the Bearcats are reloaded and refocused, preparing to embark on the title defense they intended on completing a season ago. With last season’s tournament erased by the coronavirus, they are still Division II’s reigning national champions, and they hope to remain that this time next year.

Despite losing three seniors, Northwest still touts a lineup with the reigning MIAA Player of the Year in Hudgins and the two-time MIAA Defensive Player of the Year in senior Ryan Hawkins.