Maryville, Mo—The last time Northwest Missouri State had lost an NCAA tournament game was the opening round of the 2018 tournament. They had won 19 straight national tournament games, but a 20th was not in the cards for the three-time defending national champions as No. 15 Southern Nazarene pulled off a second-round stunner of the region's top ranked team, and second ranked team in the nation.
The Crimson Storm overcame a first half deficit and found a way to battle through a physical second half to earn their first ever trip to the NCAA Central Region finals. SNU, the five seed, will take on sixth seeded Minnesota-Duluth on Tuesday night at 7:00 p.m. with a shot at the Elite Eight on the line.
Despite playing in front of a raucous crowd, Southern Nazarene (27-4) showed tremendous poise throughout the second half. They trailed the Bearcats (31-3) throughout the majority of the first half and went into the locker room down by seven, but continued to battle and finally grab the lead at the ten minute mark after Javon Jackson drilled a triple from the top of the key.
Jackson was sensational all night, going toe-to-toe with the region's player of the year, Diego Bernard. Jackson hit big shot after shot for SNU, including the game-winner, a turnaround jumper from the baseline with just 14.8 seconds remaining. He finished with 24 points on 9-of-14 shooting, including 4-of-6 from deep.
Following Jackson's go-ahead bucket, Diego Bernard made his way to the free-throw line for a one-and-one, but he missed the front end and Nick Davis hauled in the rebound. After a couple of fouls, Adokiye Iyaye finally made his way to the line with a chance to ice the game.
The graduate senior was calm and collected at the line. Despite standing at the line in front of a wild environment, he splashed both free throws and sealed the win for SNU.
"We've been preparing the whole year to play a team like that," said Iyaye. "Just being able to knock those free throws down was very,very thrilling and I was happy for the team. We got to do that and we get to advance and survive."
Coming into the game, Northwest Missouri State boasted the best scoring defense in the nation and the third best scoring margin in the nation. The Storm, who also pride themselves on defense and have the third best scoring defense in the nation, held the Bearcats to just 57 points, which matched a season-low for Northwest.
"I just can't overstate how good of an opponent that was," said SNU head coach Adam Bohac. "And to win in that environment, against that team, you know this building, it takes more than just somebody playing really good. It takes a bunch of character and a bunch of other stuff, and that's the part that is perhaps the most satisfying."
SNU will have one day to rest and prepare for the region finals against Minnesota-Duluth. The two programs have met once before, in a double-overtime thriller in Bethany in overtime, when Duluth came away with a 115-109 win. They meet again on Tuesday with a place in the Elite Eight in Evansville, Indiana on the line.
