MARYVILLE, Missouri - The No. 1-ranked Northwest Missouri State men's basketball moved on to the NCAA Division II Central Region final with a 70-59 triumph over the Southern Nazarene University Crimson Storm in front of a sold out Bearcat Arena.Seniorled all scorers with 29 points as he made 10-of-16 shots from the field, including a trio of three-pointers.Redshirt freshmanburied a lengthy shot-clock beating three with 1:04 remaining to put away the Crimson Storm. Hudgins tallied 16 points and seven rebounds in the victory.The Bearcats gained momentum quickly against the Crimson Storm as they got out to a 14-5 advantage in the first six minutes of the game. From then it was a back and forth battle as SNU tried to make gains on the lead, but Northwest handled the push back.Northwest held a 23-13 lead with 7:38 left in the first half when Southern Nazarene made a run. SNU pulled to within a single point at 24-23 with 4:03 remaining until halftime. Northwest responded with a 7-0 spurt to open it back up to an eight-point margin.As the contest neared halftime, Witthus buried a triple that gave Northwest a 36-25 lead. But SNU's Jhonathan Dunn sank a three-pointer to beat the buzzer to make it a 36-28 advantage at the break. It wasn't soon after thathit a three-pointer to put the Bearcats back up four and helped carry the momentum to halftime allowing Northwest to go up 36-28.SNU hung around in the second half and cut the Bearcat lead to 58-53 with 3:51 to play. Hudgins then kept the Crimson Storm at bay by burying two free throws and pair of three-pointers to clinch the win – including the shot-clock beating bomb with just over a minute to play.Northwest (34-0 overall) will take on MIAA foe Missouri Southern on Tuesday at 7 p.m. with the winner advancing to the NCAA Elite Eight in Evansville on March 27-30.NOTES: Earlier this season, Northwest and Missouri Southern met in Bearcat Arena with the Bearcats scoring an 82-62 win on Feb. 2. … Hudgins set his career-high in rebounds with seven (he had six in the first half) … Northwest is 15-0 at home this season … over the past three seasons, Northwest is 96-5 overall … Northwest is 25-20 all-time in NCAA play.