BEARCAT SPORTS
CULTURE
W1NS Bearcats claim first men’s basketball national championship, sixth in football As student-athletes at Northwest, Adam Dorrel ’98, ’00, in football, and Ben McCollum ’03, ’05, in men’s basketball, had front-row seats to watching hall of fame coaches lead their respective teams and build a championship culture at the University. In 2016-2017, with Dorrel and McCollum at the helms of those teams, Northwest accomplished what no other NCAA Division II athletics program had done before by winning national championships in football and men’s basketball in the same academic year. 28
The men’s basketball team finished the season 35-1, while the Bearcat football team achieved a second consecutive 15-0 national championship season. “The culture is here for everybody,” said Director of Athletics Mel Tjeerdsma ’77, who led the football program’s turnaround as a head coach from 1994 to 2010 and won three of its national championships. “The tremendous support that we get, starting with the University and then the community and our alums, it’s infectious, and it’s made it so much fun to have what we’ve got. I don’t know how you can even put words to that, but it’s just great.” The Bearcat men’s basketball team led from start to finish March 25 at the Sanford Pentagon in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, to beat Fairmont State (W.Va.) University, 7161, in its first national championship game. The basketball team was nearly perfect on the season and in the championship game against a talented and gritty Fairmont team. “We came out with no fear, which was unbelievable,” McCollum said. “I knew if we had any chance to beat them, you have to kind of bully the bullies. They get after it so much and make it really difficult for you. I was happy with our guys’ performance.” During the previous three years, the basketball team’s season ended in the Central Region championship game –
NORTHWEST ALUMNI MAGAZINE I SPRING 2017
Division II’s “Sweet 16” round – by a combined deficit of eight points and twice to the eventual national champion. Last year, was particularly heartbreaking when the Bearcats fell at the Sanford Pentagon by two free throws with five seconds left to Augustana (S.D.) University, which won the national title. “This is special,” junior forward ChrisEbou Ndow said. “We wanted to go down swinging. If we were going to lose, we weren’t going to lose easy. We have an unbelievable group of seniors. It is only fitting they go out this way.” The one small chink in the chain during the basketball season occurred as the Bearcats reached the stretch run. The Bearcats’ offense wasn’t flowing as well as it was in December, January and most of February. Northwest, which began the season 24-0, lost its only game Feb. 18 at
Top row: D’Vante Mosby, Chris-Ebou Ndow. Second row: Kyle Zimmerman hands off to Phil Jackson II, Justin Pitts. Third row: Anthony Woods, Randy Schmidt. Fourth row: Jordan Bishop, Collin Bevins and Nick Hess, Zach Schneider