Men's Basketball Falls To Lewis 99-95

MIDLAND, MICH. – The Northwood University men's basketball team dropped a hard-fought 99-95 contest to Lewis Tuesday night (November 24).

Lewis is now 4-1 on the season. Northwood falls to 3-2.

The Flyers used an efficient offense to earn the lead in the opening half. Lewis connected on 68 percent of their shots (19-28) overall while making 13-17 from 3-point range (76.5 percent) en route to 54 points in the half. But the Timberwolves shot 53 percent themselves (19-36) to stay within striking distance at 54-46 at the break.

Northwood hung around in the second half, but could not get over the hump. The Timberwolves cut the Flyers lead down to five or less five times in the opening 10 minutes of the half, but not no closer than four points in that stretch. After Lewis got their lead up to a game-high 12 points, Northwood fought back in the final minutes of the contest. Much like before, the Timberwolves cut the Flyer lead down to three on five separate occasions in the final 2:53 but were unable to get any closer.

Lewis' perimeter game proved to be the difference in the contest, as the Flyers ended up connecting on 17 3-pointers in the game while shooting 70.8 percent from beyond the arc. For the game, Lewis ended up at 59.6 percent overall (31-52) compared to Northwood at 48.6 percent (36-74). NU went 8-27 from 3-point range (29.6 percent) and 15-20 from the foul line (75.0 percent).

Four Timberwolves finished in double figures, led by Maurice Jones (Saginaw, Mich./Arthur Hill) with a Northwood-best 31 points to go along with 10 assists, five rebounds and three steals. Charlie Ryan (Novi, Mich./Detroit Catholic Central) made his first career start a good one, scoring a career-high 17 points. Brad Schaub (Marlette, Mich./UMass-Lowell) and Jermaine Myers (Ajax, Ontario) each added 15. Lewis was led by sophomore guard Max Strus, who set a Lewis & Bennett Center record by scoring 52 points.

Northwood will host Wayne State in the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Opener next Thursday (December 3). Game time is set for 8 p.m. The contest is also the grand opening for the renovated Bennett Center.