Men's Basketball | 3/5/2017 4:21:00 PM

Kansas City, Mo. – Top seeded Northwest Missouri hit eight three-pointers and led the majority game as they defeated second seeded Central Missouri 69-61 to claim their second straight and sixth overall MIAA title.
 
The Bearcats shot .466 from the field and pulled down 31 total rebounds on the way to the title.
 
For the Bearcats Justin Pitts was named the Tournament’s Most Outstanding Player scoring 26 points to lead all scorers. Ryan Welty came just one point shy of a double-double scoring nine points and pulling down a game high 10 rebounds.
 
For the Mules Spencer Reaves led the way with 15 points and Kyle Wolf added 12 points in the effort. Marquiez Lawrence was just shy of a double-double as well scoring 11 points and pulling down nine board.
 
Northwest Missouri earns the MIAA's automatic bid into the NCAA Division II National Tournament while all others teams will await the announcement of the field tonight at 9 p.m. on NCAA.com.
 
All-Tournament Team
C.J. Carr, Missouri Southern
Spencer Reaves, Central Missouri
D’Vante Mosby, Northwest Missouri
Chris-Ebou Ndow, Northwest Missouri
Justin Pitts, Northwest Missouri (MOP)
 
Notes: Justin Pitts becomes the first player to be named to an All-Tournament team three straight seasons and the only player to be named the Most Outstanding Player more than once.
Justin Pitts set a new tournament career scoring record besting that of Ron Nunnelly who had 181 points over nine games from 1982-85. Pitts has now scored 190 points over his career in the MIAA Tournament.
This is the sixth overall MIAA Championship for the Bearcats the 17^th that has been won by the Tournament #1 seed.