Northwest defeats Augusta for third-straight national championship
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Mar. 26—EVANSVILLE, Mo. — Northwest Missouri State used the heroics of junior Trevor Hudgins to overcome a second-half cold spell, defeating Augusta (Ga.) 67-58 on Saturday at the Ford Center for the program's fourth national title.
With the victory, the Bearcats are the first Division II program to win three consecutive championships, following up titles in '19 and '21. The 2020 postseason wasn't played due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Hudgins scored 22 points in the opening half, making 8 of 15 shots and 4 of 10 from 3-point range to take a 39-28 lead into the locker room. Due to early foul trouble, junior Diego Bernard and sophomore Wes Dreamer were limited to just 10 combined minutes in the first half.
Augusta took a seven-point lead in the opening eight minutes behind nine points from 7-foot-1 center Tyshaun Crawford. Hudgins then made four 3-pointers in the rest of the half while Mitch Mascari chipped in eight first-half points. Freshman Daniel Abreu helped limit Crawford without a point the rest of the half.
A trio of 3-pointers by Luke Waters, Abreu and Hudgins helped Northwest go up by 18 with 13:48 remaining. But the Jaguars responded with a 20-5 run over more than 10 minutes to pull within one point at 57-56.
But the Bearcats would respond with a 9-0 run to put the game out of reach.
Hudgins finished with 31 points. Waters chipped in 12 while Mascari added 11.
Brandon Zenner can be reached at brandon.zenner@newspressnow.com. Follow him on Twitter: @NPNowZenner.
