Maryville, Mo.  – A 10-0 run midway through the first half opened up a big lead and the number one ranked Northwest Missouri Bearcats would not look back, defeating Missouri Southern 90-68 tonight inside Bearcat Arena.
 
Southern (10-4, 4-1 MIAA) was led by 20 points from JJ Cratit as the senior went 7-13 from the field and 4-4 from the free throw line. CJ Carr had 11 points, while Elyjah Clark scored ten and added six boards.
 
Lawrence Brown had eight rebounds and five points, while Kinzer Lambert had nine points and six rebounds.
 
Northwest (13-0, 5-0 MIAA) was led by 24 points from Justin Pitts, while four others scored in double figures, led by 15 from Xavier Kurth.
 
The Bearcats jumped out to a 4-0 lead before a three from Lambert with 18:11 on the clock made the score 4-3 early on. Northwest went on an 8-0 run and extended its lead to 12-3 with 15:29 to go, before a pair of free throws from Carr with 13:39 to go cut the lead to six at 16-10.
 
Northwest, however then went on a 10-0 run over the next three minutes and led 26-10 with 10:42 to go in the half. The Beartacts' lead reached 17 (39-22) after a three from Ryan Welty with 5:44 on the clock and a last-second layup from Pitts pushed the halftime lead to 18 (50-32).
 
The Lions scored four of the first six points of the second half, but the Northwest lead was still 18 after the first media timeout (58-40). The Bearcats, however, pushed their lead to 24 (69-45) with 8:44 to go and the Lions would not get any closer than 20 the rest of the night.
 
The Lions shot 43 percent from the field and 100 percent from the free throw line, but struggled in the paint being outscored 62-20. Southern own the rebound battle 35-33.
 
The Lions will have to re-group and gear up for another road matchup when Southern travels to Missouri Western on Saturday. Tip off from St. Joseph is slated for 4 pm.