The Northwest Missouri State men’s basketball team will play for a national championship on Saturday. The Bearcats defeated the Saint Anselm Hawks 76-53 in the Final Four on Thursday night in Evansville, Indiana.

For the second straight game the Bearcats held just a two point edge at halftime, this time at 31-29. The second half was obviously a much different story this time with Northwest using a 14-5 run to start the second half, and racing away to a comfortable victory.

Trevor Hudgins led the way again for Northwest with 27 points, 4 assists, and 6 steals. Ryan Hawkins had another big game with a monster double-double of 14 points and 14 rebounds.

The Bearcats will now try to cap an undefeated season with a National Championship on Saturday afternoon at 2:00pm at the Ford Center in Evansville, Indiana. Northwest Missouri State will face Point Loma in the title game on Saturday. Point Loma defeated Southern Indiana 81-71 in the other semifinal. The championship game on Saturday will be televised on CBS.

MILWAUKEE (AP) — Milwaukee center fielder Lorenzo Cain soared above the wall to rob Jose Martinez of a tying home run for the final out, lifting Christian Yelich and the Brewers over the St. Louis Cardinals 5-4 in an opener Thursday.

With at least one Cardinals player in the bullpen already raising his arms to celebrate, Cain pulled back the pinch-hit drive by Martinez in right-center. A fired-up Cain flung the ball high into the air as the Brewers poured onto the field to celebrate.

Yelich got right back to work after winning the NL MVP award last season, putting Milwaukee ahead to stay with a three-run homer off Miles Mikolas in the third. The Miller Park crowd of 45,304 roared as Yelich glided around the bases.

Mike Moustakas and pitcher Jhoulys Chacin also connected for the Brewers in a performance that looked a lot like their run to the NL Championship Series last October. Josh Hader retired the first two batters before Cain’s play finished off the save.

Kolten Wong homered twice for St. Louis and Harrison Bader also connected. The Cardinals blew a 3-0 lead in their fifth consecutive loss against the Brewers, including a three-game sweep last September that helped propel Milwaukee to the NL Central title.

Paul Goldschmidt went 0 for 3 with three strikeouts and a walk in his first regular-season game for St. Louis since he was acquired in an offseason trade with Arizona. The All-Star slugger had a short conversation with plate umpire Gary Cederstrom after he looked at a called third strike in each of his first two at-bats.

Chacin (1-0) struck out seven in 5 1/3 innings in his third opening-day start. He also helped himself with two hits, singling and scoring on Yelich’s drive before hitting a 2-2 pitch from Mikolas into Milwaukee’s bullpen in left-center for his second career homer in the fifth.

Mikolas (0-1), a surprise star last season when he went 18-4 in his first year with the Cardinals, allowed five runs and five hits in five innings.

Wong’s second homer made it 5-4 in the seventh, but Milwaukee’s depleted bullpen held on. Hader struck out four in two perfect innings, fanning Goldschmidt, Paul DeJong and Marcell Ozuna in the eighth.

Hader was a key figure for the Brewers last year, and he became even more important when key relievers Jeremy Jeffress and Corey Knebel opened this season on the injured list. Jeffress is coming back from a sore right shoulder, but Knebel could be headed for season-ending elbow surgery.

The Cardinals got off to a fast start, scoring the first three runs on consecutive first-pitch homers by Wong and Bader in the second. Wong connected after Dexter Fowler reached on a two-out walk, and Bader hit a deep drive to left.

The Brewers got one back when Moustakas went deep with two out in the bottom half of the inning. Moustakas also did just fine in his first game at second base after beginning his career as a third baseman.

UP NEXT
Young right-handers Jack Flaherty and Freddy Peralta get the ball when the series resumes Friday night. St. Louis is counting on the 23-year-old Flaherty to help anchor the rotation after he went 8-9 with a 3.34 ERA in 28 starts last year. Peralta, who turns 23 in June, won a spot in Milwaukee’s rotation during spring training. He went 6-4 with a 4.25 ERA in 16 appearances last season during his first year in the majors, including 14 starts.

AMES, Iowa – Iowa State women’s basketball coach Bill Fennelly will reach a milestone season next fall when he begins his 25th season on the sidelines in Ames.

And, after agreeing to a three-year contract extension Thursday, the dean of Big 12 coaches, will continue his tenure at Iowa State beyond the anniversary campaign. Fennelly’s contract extension runs through June 30, 2025.

“I love this place,” Fennelly said in his post-game comments Monday. “I love everything about it. I love coming to work. I love telling people I coach and work at Iowa State.”

The appreciation for Fennelly is equally strong.

“Bill built a program from scratch and, more impressively, maintained major success for more than two decades,” Athletics Director Jamie Pollard said. “There’s a loyalty factor and a commitment (to Iowa State) factor with Bill that isn’t very typical today. He has been fully invested in the ‘Iowa State Way’ for a long time and our fan base has reaped the benefits.”

As Fennelly prepares for his silver anniversary season in Ames, he will join a list of peers with at least 25 years working at one school that includes the likes of Geno Auriemma (34 years at UConn), Doug Bruno (33, DePaul), Sylvia Hatchell (33, North Carolina), Tara VanDerveer (33, Stanford) and Muffet McGraw (32, Notre Dame).

Fennelly is also climbing the list of longest-tenured coaches in Iowa State history, which includes Jack McGuire (men’s swimming, 34 years), Cap Timm (baseball, 33), Harold Nichols (wrestling, 32), Dale Anderson (men’s golf, 30), Hugo Otopalik (wrestling, 28) and Bill Bergan (men’s cross country, 25).

Fennelly won his 500th game at Iowa State last season and has a 24-year record of 505-262 (.658) with the Cyclones. His career mark over 31 years is 671-315 (.618). His career win total is 14th nationally among active coaches.

“Both (Iowa State President) Dr. Wendy Wintersteen and I wanted to extend our support to Bill in light of the fact that my tenure with the NCAA Men’s Basketball Committee begins this fall,” Pollard said. “I will miss some Cyclone games with my committee work, so we wanted to re-state and extend our support for Bill’s leadership of this program.”

Fennelly’s 2018-19 team was 26-9, finished second in both the Big 12 regular-season standings and the Big 12 Tournament and hosted two games in the NCAA Women’s Basketball Championship. It was Fennelly’s 20th season with at least 20 victories, making him one of only 13 active coaches with that distinction. He is one of 13 finalists for the 2019 U.S. Marine Corps / WBCA National Coach of the Year award.