It went down to the final buzzer. But, #1-seed Northwest Missouri State University (NMSU) of Marysville, Missouri, used a game-high 25 points from Justin Pitts to hold off a final second three-point field goal try to tie by second-seed Southwest Minnesota State University (SMSU) to claim a 55 to 52 win in the championship game of the NCAA (National Collegiate Athletic Association) Division II Central Region Tournament at Bearcat Arena, their home hard court, on Tuesday, March 14.

The Mustangs ended their season with a mark of 28-6, good enough to tie a school record for victories in a season set previously by the 2000-2001 and 2008-2009 squads.

An integral player for SMSU is former Wolverine stand-out, Carter Kirk. The 6’8″, 242-pound junior center scored eight points in the loss. Kirk also grabbed a team-high nine rebounds.

Kirk, the son of Tim and Sheila Kirk of Mountain Lake, is a 2014 graduate of Mountain Lake Public High School, is an exercise major. As a Wolverine under Head Coach Shawn Naas, Kirk scored a school record 2,150 points, tagged with a second school record, 1,350 boards. He dished out more than 300 assists and blocked more than 200 shots. Kirk was a member of the 2012 (fourth-place finish) and 2013 Wolverine squads to appear in the Minnesota State High School League (MSHSL) Class A Boys Basketball Tournament. In addition, he was a power on the high school football field, helping lead the Wolverines to the state nine-man quarterfinals as a senior.

On top of his athletic skills, Kirk is an Academic All-NSIC (Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference).

Kirk, who played as a true freshman in the 2014-2015 season, began this basketball season ranked fourth in team history with a career 55.6 field goal percentage.

The game was the final one for SMSU seniors Joey Bartlett, Mitch Weg and Drew Osmundson. The Mustangs’ Head Coach is Brad Bigler.

The Mustangs earned a berth in the Central Region by winning the NSIC championship, defeating the Upper Iowa Univeristy Peacocks (Fayette, Iowa), 71 to 58.

In their opening round of the NCAA Division II Central Region Tournament, SMSU defeated Arkansas Tech (Russellville, Arkansas), the seventh seed, 93 to 82. The Mustangs then claimed a four-point, come-from-behind, 74 to 70 win over the #3-seed East Central College (Union, Missouri), to move on to the Central Region title game.

NMSU beat Augustana University of Sioux Falls, South Dakota in the semi-finals, 74 to 53, after downing Upper Iowa 79 to 74 in the first round.

NMSU, sporting a 32-1 overall record, and #1-ranking in the latest NABC (National Association of Basketball Coaches) Top  25 poll, now advances to the NCAA Division II Elite Eight at the Sanford Pentagon in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, running from March 22-25. While NMSU will represent the Central Region, the seven other teams to play include from the Atlantic Region – Fairmont State University (Fairmont, West Virginia); East Region – St. Thomas Aquinas College (Sparkill, New York); Midwest Region – Bellarmine Universitiy (Louisville, Kentucky); South Region – Rollins College (Winter Park, Florida); South Central Region – Colorado School of Mines (Golden, Colorado); Southeast Region – Lincoln Memorial University (Harrogate, Tennessee) and West Region – California State University, Chico (Chico, California). NMSU will face St. Thomas Aquinas in their opening game.