Men's Basketball Drops 73-70 Contest At Northern Michigan

MARQUETTE, MICH. – The Northwood University men's basketball team dropped a tough 73-70 contest to Northern Michigan Saturday afternoon (February 20).

Northwood falls to 15-12 overall, 11-10 in the GLIAC. Northern Michigan, which won both games against Northwood this season, improves to 7-18 overall, 5-16 in the GLIAC.

The Timberwolves hit 3-pointers on their first two possessions of the game to lead 6-5, but that would prove to be the lone lead of the opening half for the Timberwolves. The Wildcats led by as many as 11 points in the half before taking a 36-28 lead at the break. Northwood shot 35.5 percent from the floor (11-31) compared to Northern Michigan at 50.0 percent (14-28).

NU fought back at the start of the second half, eventually taking the lead at 51-50 with nine minutes remaining in the game. The score was tied 60-60 with less than three minutes to go when NMU connected on back-to-back 3-pointers to go up 66-60. Northwood got back to within one point with under 20 seconds remaining, but the Wildcats knocked down a pair of free throws to take a 3-point lead. The Timberwolves got off a pair of 3-pointers in the final seconds to try and tie the game, but they did not fall, giving Northern Michigan the win.

For the game, Northwood shot 40.3 percent from the floor (27-67) compared to Northern Michigan at 49.0 percent (25-51). After making their first two attempts of the game, NU went just 7-27 from 3-point range overall (25.9 percent). NU did finish with big advantages in second chance points (23-11) and bench points (40-18) in the game.

Leading the way for Northwood was senior guard Dylan Langkabel (Morristown, Ind.), who came off the bench to score a season-high 24 points for the Timberwolves. Maurice Jones (Saginaw, Mich./Arthur Hill) had 17 points, while PJ Weaver (Dayton, Ohio/Meadowdale) had 15 points and nine rebounds. Nick Spitzley (Pewamo, Mich./Pewamo-Westphalia) added 11 points.

Northwood will finish the regular season with a game at Lake Superior State Thursday night (February 25). Game time is set for 7:30 p.m.