Photos by Jake McNeill Above: Southwest Minnesota State forward Jake Phipps shoots a jump shot during the second half of an NCAA Division II mens basketball tournament game against Northwest Missouri State on Saturday at the Taylor Center in Mankato. Below: SMSU guard Cliff Cofield navigates an NWMSU double team. The Bearcats defeated the Mustangs 73-43

MANKATO — The second-seeded Northwest Minnesota State Bearcats’ hot 3-point shooting and early takeaways were too much for No. 7 Southwest Minnesota State to overcome on Saturday. The Mustangs fell behind early and never were able to get back into the game in a 73-43 loss in the NCAA Division II Central Region quarterfinals.

“I just want to give Northwest Mo a lot of credit. Coming off that championship last week, they did not slow down,” SMSU head coach Brad Bigler said. “Their physicality on defense in that performance they put on was impressive. Obviously we all know how efficient they are on the offensive end… but defensively, they are, when it matters, they’re as good as anyone.

“They came ready to play and kind of punched us in the mouth early and it took us a little bit to respond.”

The game marked the second matchup of the year between the two teams. When they last met in the second game of the season on Nov. 11, the Mustangs pulled out a 63-56 win over the Bearcats behind 20 points and five assists from Cliff Cofield.

Bigler noted that one of the difference makers when comparing that last matchup to this time was the play of Daniel Abreu for the Bearcats. He scored 8 points when the teams last met but finished Saturday with a game-high 17 points on 3 of 4 shooting from 3-point range.

“The first time we played them, we didn’t even guard him and he didn’t even look at the rim,” Bigler said. “Tonight he starts of the game with two 3s and ends up with 17 points and is making every hustle play… The amount of time he spent in the gym shooting or whatever he did, his growth in one season has been very impressive to watch from a distance.”

Bigler added that Isaiah Jackson getting healthy also provided a challenge for the Mustangs due to his defensive versatility.

Wes Dreamer started the game by knocking down a 3-pointer with a hand right in his face and, after a Cofield layup at the end of the shot clock, Dreamer and Daniel Abreu each knocked down another 3 to make the score 9-2 through the first four minutes.

The Bearcats made five of their first seven attempts from beyond the arc and Dreamer drew a foul on another to get to the free-throw line for a 3-pointer. They went into the locker room shooting 8 of 13 in the first half.

SMSU shot 0 for 7 from 3-point range in the first half. They didn’t make their first 3 until Mason Lund knocked down a shot in the final five minutes of the game. The Mustangs finished the night 1 of 12 from 3-point range.

“Their physicality on the ball — in the right way — is just so superior,” Bigler said. “They’re bigger, faster, stronger in a lot of ways and it really affected our vision. So when we drove and they had contact on us, we were missing shooters, we were kind of forcing some plays, and then when we did get those shots in, I’d have to go back and watch our film but it felt like we were rushing our shot a little bit. They just disrupted our rhythm all night.”

Phipps led the Mustangs with 13 points on the night on 4 of 6 shooting from the field while Cofield, Lund and Aeron Stevens each scored another 6 points each. As a team, the Mustangs made just 13 of their 34 field goal attempts. The mark is their lowest of the season, surpassing their previous season-low of 18 against Maryville (Mo.) on Dec. 19.

In terms of the turnover battle, the Bearcats forced five Mustang turnovers in the first nine minutes without coughing the ball up once themselves. Those turnovers resulted in 6 NWMSU points and the Bearcats finished the first half with an 11-6 advantage in points off turnovers after forcing eight turnovers.

“In the postseason, a lot of it is a possession battle. Can you get more shots at the hoop than your opponent?” NWMSU head coach Ben McCollum said. “Whether its defensive rebounding, offensive rebounding, turnovers, whatever it may be, you just have to make sure that you’re taking care of the basketball and I thought defensively we were pretty tuned in.

“We’ve gotten a lot better defensively throughout the season. We just had to figure out who we were and our identity and then we were able to get some hands on balls and get some deflections.”

While the Mustangs did struggle to limit the Bearcats’ shooting early on, the paint was all SMSU. The Mustangs held NWMSU to 1 of 8 shooting on attempts from inside the arc. SMSU, meanwhile, shot 7 of 11 to carry a 14-2 advantage in points in the paint into halftime.

“It’s just our level two and three defense, that’s one of the things that we’ve kind of pride ourselves on is rim protection,” Phipps said. “Coming into tonight, we didn’t want to give up layups and, I mean, they shot the lights out tonight, so I’ve got to give them props on that one, but that was kind of our game plan.”

At the end of the first half, NWMSU led 37-22. The longest scoring run it had was a 6-0 run starting five minutes into the game.

As the second half progressed, the Bearcats limited the Mustangs’ quality inside looks. SMSU scored just 2 points in the paint in the second half and a late barrage of points off turnovers gave the Bearcats 14 points in the paint after the break. The Bearcats also finished the night with a 24-11 advantage in points off turnovers.

As a team, the Mustangs turned the ball over 18 times after averaging 10.4 over the course of the season.

“That just shows you the effort that they put in and the attention to detail that they had to disrupt us and all the little different things… they just were a step ahead of us,” Bigler said.

No Mustangs logged multiple assists in the game while Bennett Stirtz and Jackson led the Bearcats with six and five respectively.

The Bearcats slowly extended their leading throughout the second half. The Mustangs remained within striking distance until the Bearcats went on a 14-0 run over the course of nearly nine minutes to expand their lead from 49-35 to 63-35.

NWMSU built a 16-23 advantage on the glass, including a 7-4 second-chance points advantage. Isaiah Jackson led the game with six rebounds while Phipps and Lund grabbed five each to pace the Mustangs.

Behind Abreu, Mitch Mascari added another 16 points for the Bearcats, Dreamer finished with 15 and Stirtz added another 12.

SMSU’s season comes to an end with a 19-13 record. They graduate three seniors this year in Cofield, Phipps and Kyle Luedtke.

“After my first year was COVID as well, so I went through that and there were a lot of ups and downs. Honestly at that point in my career, I didn’t even know if getting to this point was something that we were capable of,” Cofield said. “We put in our time and I’m just very thankful. Going from being a little boy to the man that I am now, I appreciate the coaches for letting me be myself throughout my five years here. Honestly, I guess I’m just thankful for my time at Southwest.”

NWMSU improved to 28-4 with the win. The second-seeded Bearcats went on to defeat No. 3 Minnesota Duluth on Sunday and will take on top-seeded Minnesota State in the Central Region championship tonight at 7 p.m.