Men's Basketball Drops Tough 77-76 Contest To Wayne State

OVERVIEW – WAYNE STATE

SCORE:  Wayne State Warriors 77, Northwood Timberwolves 76

RECORDS: Northwood (11-16, 8-11 GLIAC), Wayne State (8-16, 7-12 GLIAC)

LOCATION: Riepma Arena – Midland, Mich.

RECAP: Northwood fights back late but drops tough 77-76 contest to Wayne State Saturday evening (February 23).

FIRST HALF

• Northwood rattled off seven consecutive points and led for the opening eight minutes.
• Wayne State was the better team in the final 10 minutes of the opening half. NU led 23-19 before the Warriors rattled off 22 of the final 30 points to take a 41-31 lead at halftime.
• Northwood shot 42.9 percent from the field (12-28), including 33.3 percent from three-point range (4-12).
• Wayne State's offense was the story of the half, shooting 63 percent on their attempts (17-27) overall and 80 percent of their shots from behind the arc (4-5).

SECOND HALF

• Wayne State got the lead to as many as 14 three times, the last of which was at 65-51 with under nine minutes remaining.  
• Northwood caught fire in the last 10 minutes. Boosted by a 14-2 run, they cut the lead down to 67-65 with just over five minutes to play.
• The Warriors built their lead back to 75-70, but the Timberwolves again responded with six consecutive points to take the lead 76-75 with just over 30 seconds left.
• Inbounding the ball with just over 10 seconds left, Wayne State was able to net the go-ahead basket to earn the win.
• NU made 46.9 percent of their shots from the floor (15-32), sinking 33.3 percent of their three-point attempts (3-9).  The Timberwolves did get the foul line 17 times in the second half, making 12 (70.6 percent).
• WSU's offense was solid again in the second half shooting wise, making 51.6 percent of their shots from the field (16-31).

GAME STATS

• FG PERCENTAGE: Wayne State .569 (33-58), Northwood .450 (27-60)
• 3-PT PERCENTAGE: Wayne State .556 (5-9), Northwood .333 (7-21)
• FREE THROW PERCENTAGE: Wayne State .750 (6-8), Northwood .652 (15-23)
• REBOUNDS: Wayne State 31 (Eight offensive), Northwood 33 (15 offensive)
• ASSISTS/TURNOVERS: Wayne State 14/10, Northwood 10/17

TOP NU PERFORMERS

• Trey McBride: 18 points, 7-9 from the floor
• David Jelinek/Alec Marty: 16 points each
• Ja'Kavien Lewis: 12 points, nine rebounds, five assists

GAME NOTES

• The road team won both games in the series this season – prior to this year, the home team had taken 10 of 11 games.
• With one game remaining, Northwood and Wayne State are fighting for the final spot in the GLIAC Tournament. NU is one game ahead of WS. If the teams were to finish tied, the spot is given to the winner of a point tiebreaker. Those numbers will be updated this week prior to Thursday's games.

UP NEXT

• The Timberwolves will host Saginaw Valley State Thursday (February 28) in the regular season finale. Tip-off is set for 8:00 p.m.