Men's Basketball Earns Tough 60-50 Road Win at Lewis

OVERVIEW – LEWIS

SCORE: Lewis 50, Northwood 60

RECORDS: Northwood (4-10, 2-3 GLIAC), Lewis (7-5, 2-0 GLVC)

LOCATION: Neil Carey Arena, Lewis University   

RECAP: Northwood's earns tough 60-50 road win at Lewis to close out 2016 calendar year.

FIRST HALF

• The opening minutes of the contest saw Lewis score the first two field goals of the game, but eventually Northwood recovered from the slow start with an eight nothing run to lead 8-4 after the first media timeout.
• As play continued, both teams would struggle shooting, however, Lewis was able to use strong offensive rebounding in the first half to mount a 15-4 run and take a 19-12 lead.
• With 7:06 to play in the first half, the Flyers held their largest lead of the game at seven points, but a strong push by Northwood to close the half on a 12-4 run gave the Timberwolves a 24-23 lead at the halftime break.
• Both teams forced the opposition to shoot poorly from the floor as Northwood finished the half shooting 31% (8-26) and Lewis shot 8-28 (29%).

SECOND HALF

• The second half began similarly, both teams playing tough defense and grinding out possessions in a low scoring affair. After the first media timeout of the second half, Northwood still held the one point lead, 30-29.  
• About halfway through the second half, with the game tied at 40 and 10:16 to play , Northwood seized momentum with an 10-2 run thanks largely to Nick Spitzley who had five of the points in the stint including a big three pointer to make it 50-42 with 6:37 to play in the game.
• Moments later, Northwood would match their largest lead of the game on a Matt Crowl jumper that stretched the lead to eight, 55-47 with 2:03 to play in the game.
• The Timberwolves would maintain the lead down the stretch and eventually come away with a 60-50 win for their first road victory of the season.

GAME STATS

• FG PERCENTAGE: Lewis .254 (16-63), Northwood ..321 (18-56)
• 3-PT PERCENTAGE : Lewis.059  (1-17), Northwood  .231 (6-26)
• FREE THROW PERCENTAGE: Lewis  .680 (17-25), Northwood .692 (18-26)
• REBOUNDS: Northwood 49 (13 offensive), Lewis 45 (17 offensive)
• ASSISTS/TURNOVERS: Northwood 8/15, Lewis  4/12

TOP NU PERFORMERS

• Nick Spitzley: 15 points, three assists
• PJ Weaver: 10 Points, 14 rebounds

GAME NOTES

• This is the first time in the history of the series that Northwood has won at Lewis Uniersity.
• Prior to tonight's contest, Lewis was 5-1 inside Neil Carey Arena this season.
• Northwood is now 4-0 this season when shooting a higher field goal percentage than the opposition.
• Northwood outscored Lewis in the paint 24-16.

UP NEXT

• The Timberwolves will resume GLIAC play as they travel to Hillsdale on Thursday (January 5) for a road game against Hillsdale. Game time is set for 8 PM.