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KXCV-KRNW


News Brief

Jan. 18, 2019MARYVILLE, Mo.

A rivalry dominated by Northwest returns Saturday

Rivalry week has reached Northwest Missouri.

Saturday renews a matchup of MIAA schools that aren't too fond of each other.

Northwest Missouri State basketball will travel 45 miles south for a meeting with Missouri Western.

The heated rivalry has cooled over the years with the Bearcats winning 11 straight games in the series, and 16 of 17.

This weekend marks the first matchup between Northwests's Ben McCollum and Western's first-year head coach Sundance Wicks.

Wicks didn't have to go far to learn about the history between Northwest and Western. Retired Griffon head coach Tom Smith, who spent 25 seasons at Missouri Western, filled him in on just how much this game means to the region.

"He was flashing back to some of those rivalry games and he said 'it didn't matter if Northwest had won nine in a row or if Western had won nine in a row, there was going to be a packed gym,'" Wicks said. "I just hope it gets to that point again because that's something that you can really appreciate as a coach, and each community coming together to really embrace that kind of North Carolina-Duke rivalry."

Northwest enters the game with a perfect 16-0 record, 6-0 MIAA, while Missouri Western sits at 8-9 overall, 2-4 MIAA.

The Griffons have improved on a season ago when they won just six games, but Western is still searching for its first winning record since 2009-10. Wicks knows there is plenty of work to be done to reach the MIAA elite again, and he hopes to follow the same path that McCollum paved at Northwest.

"We're trying to get back up to that standard. It's about defining that level of excellence that Northwest Missouri has held for a long time. I know Ben, we talk a lot, and his early years weren't easy. He finally put his heels in the ground and really started making some changes up there and it's taken off. I just have a lot of respect for how Ben's built it, what they've done up there and the culture they've established."

Saturday's basketball doubleheader between Northwest and Missouri Western in St. Joseph begins at 5:30pm with the women's game, followed by the men. Pregame on KXCV 90.5 and KRNW 88.9 starts at 5:10pm.