MARYVILLE, Missouri – The No. 3-ranked Northwest Missouri State University men’s basketball team withstood a hot shooting night from the Newman University Jets and improved to 9-1 on the season with an 81-70 triumph at Bearcat Arena.

Bearcat senior Ryan Hawkins registered his eighth career 30-point scoring game as he led all scorers with 30 points. Junior Diego Bernard posted 18 points and came up just shy of joining Northwest’s 1,000 point club. Bernard has recorded 998 points in his Bearcat career. Northwest had four scorers in double figures as Trevor Hudgins tallied 11 and Luke Waters notched 10.

Newman shot 56.1 percent from the floor and drained 7-of-13 three-point shots. The Jets drained seven of their first 10 three-pointers in the contest and held a five-point lead in the second half.

Northwest looked to be in a runaway in the first half as the home squad built a 28-14 lead just after the 10-minute mark in the first half. The Bearcats forced nine Jet turnovers in the first 10 minutes to build the 14-point cushion.

The Jets refueled and used a 10-0 run to cut the lead to four at 28-24 with 6:54 to play in the half. Newman’s Ian Lee buried his third three-pointer of the half to trim the Northwest lead to 35-33 at the break. Newman hit 5-of-8 three-pointers in the first half and shot 57.9% from the field. Northwest shot 60.0% from the field but was only 3-of-9 from three-point land.

Newman extended its lead to five at 50-45 on a Jorge Oliva bucket with 14:26 to play in the game. Northwest got within one at 50-49 only to see Newman extend it back to five at 54-49. Hudgins hit a field goal and then Hawkins completed a conventional three-point play to knot the game at 54-54. Northwest would retake the lead following a deep three from Hawkins with 9:28 left in the second half.

The Jets evened the contest against 59-59 on a basket from Deandre Johnson with 6:13 to play. But Northwest used a 12-3 spurt to take a nine-point lead at 71-62 following another triple from Hawkins with 3:17 on the clock. Northwest eventually pushed the lead back to 13 and tallied an 11-point victory at 81-70.

Northwest will be back in action at home Saturday against the University of Central Oklahoma. Tip is set for approximately 3:30 p.m., following the women’s contest.