Behind 25 points and 5 assists from Justin Pitts, the Northwest Missouri State Bearcats won the NCAA-Division 2 Central Division championship with a 55-52 victory on Tuesday night over Southwest Minnesota State.
The Bearcats, now 32-1, will be the #2 seed in the Elite Eight tournament, starting on Wednesday, March 22nd at the Sanford Pentagon in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. Northwest will play #7 seed St. Thomas Aquinas (28-5) at 6 PM, with tickets available at Ticketmaster.com.
In the victory over SWMS, Chris-Ebou Ndow had 11 points and 9 rebounds, with D’Vante Mosby contributing seven rebounds.
Other quarterfinal matchups will be #1 Fairmont State vs. Rollins at 12 PM, #4 Bellarmine against the Colorado School of Mines at 2:30, and #3 seed Lincoln Memorial vs. Chico State at 8:30 PM.
The semifinals will be played on Thursday, March 23rd, with the D-2 national championship game at 2 o’clock on Saturday, March 25th on CBS Television.