Northwest Missouri State men's basketball fought off a pesky Pittsburg State team in the quarterfinal round of the MIAA Tournament and emerged with a 79-73 win.
The Gorillas (17-13) shot 52.8-percent from the field and hit 10 of 12 free throws as they hung around with the top seed in the conference tournament, but the Bearcats (25-3) limited Pitt to just one offensive rebound and scored 16 points off turnovers on the way to a berth in the semifinal round.
Justin Pitts returned to form in the win with 25 points on 7-14 shooting.
Northwest also received 14 points from Xavier Kurth, 12 from Brett Dougherty and 10 from Chris-Ebou Ndow in his first game back since battling ankle issues.
The Bearcats advance to the MIAA Tournament Semifinals against Central Oklahoma at 8:15pm Saturday.