DII basketball: Northwest Missouri State quickly recovers from only loss

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A week ago, Northwest Missouri State experienced a four-hour bus ride home that had a very unfamiliar aura in the 2016-17 season: The Bearcats had to think about a loss.

For nearly all of the regular-season, Northwest Missouri’s journey has been smooth. The Bearcats clinched the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association regular-season title with three games remaining.

Northwest shattered an 86-year-old conference record for consecutive regular-season victories. The old mark was 19 straight set in 1931. Northwest won 28 straight. They were winning most conference games this season by double-digits. Only one of their 18 conference wins were by single digits.

And then came an 88-71 loss at Missouri Southern on Feb. 18.


No. 1 @NWbball falls to @mososports 88-71. This is the first regular season loss for the Bearcats since Jan. 30, 2016. Northwest is now 24-1
— NW Missourian Sports (@NWMSports) February 18, 2017

“It was a pretty somber bus ride just because of the kind of players we have here,” said senior forward D’Vante Mosby. “We are very goal oriented and fully committed to what we want to do with our goals.”

How would the Bearcats respond in their final two regular-season games?

“They didn’t understand how to take the loss because they hadn’t lost,” said Northwest coach Ben McCollum. “They bounced back and had a great practice on Monday and Tuesday.”

The Bearcats turned those good practices into solid performances Thursday and Saturday, winning by 16 and 29 points, respectively, to conclude the regular season 26-1 overall and 18-1 in the MIAA.


.@NWbball routs Lincoln 82-53 on Senior Night for @AWoods_veinte, @ZhSchneider and @theMOSBYfactor. pic.twitter.com/iCKf7o6hy6
— Brandon Zenner (@NPNowZenner) February 26, 2017


“Just to get our confidence was huge,” said senior Zach Schneider about the last two games. “A couple of guys were down just mentally playing in a game like that. We hadn’t experienced it this year. It was big to ...

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