MARYVILLE, Missouri – Sophomore point guard Trevor Hudgins hit a lean-in, off-balance jumper at the buzzer to lift No. 1-ranked Northwest Missouri State to a 77-76 victory over No. 17-ranked Missouri Southern at Bearcat Arena.

The triumph clinched Northwest’s seventh consecutive MIAA regular season title and was the 31st straight win in Bearcat Arena.

Missouri Southern (19-6 overall, 12-4 MIAA) and Northwest (25-1 overall, 15-1 MIAA) traded blows like a heavyweight title fight in Bearcat Arena. The contest featured 19 lead changes and seven ties, which 16 of the lead changes occurring in the final 20 minutes.

Bearcat junior Ryan Hawkins scored his 19th point of the game on a basket with 4:07 to play lifting Northwest to a 72-71 advantage. Kinzer Lambert answered that basket with a putback with 3:49 left giving the Lions a one-point cushion at 73-72.

Southern hit a dagger of a three-pointer with 1:18 left that gave the Lions a four-point lead at 76-72. Following a Missouri Southern timeout, Hudgins came down and knocked in his third three-pointer of the game pulling the Bearcats to within one at 76-75 with 51.4 ticks left. Lambert missed a three-pointer with 28 seconds left and Waters grabbed the missing giving Northwest a chance to retake the lead. Hawkins got the ball into the point and took a shot up that rattled in the room, but Northwest’s Diego Bernard touched it above the cylinder forcing an offensive goaltending call against the Bearcats with 9.7 seconds left.

After Northwest committed enough fouls to put Missouri Southern into the bonus, the Bearcats put Braelon Walker to the line for a 1-and-1 with 6.8 seconds left. Walker missed the front end and Hawkins corralled the miss. Hawkins found Hudgins who sped down the floor to the left wing.

Hudgins was met by a pair of Lions defenders, but split them with a jump stop and lifted an off-balance, lean-in jumper that found nothing but the bottom of the net as the clocked hit 0:00.0. Hudgins was mobbed by Bernard and his teammates as the Bearcat student section flooded onto the floor to celebrate the seventh consecutive MIAA regular season title for Northwest. Hudgins game-winner capped a 19-point, six-assist performance.

Northwest will be back in action again Saturday at home against Pittsburg State. The Bearcats and Gorillas will tip at approximately 3:30 p.m.