Men's Basketball Loses At No. 21 Findlay 70-64

FINDLAY, OHIO – The Northwood University men's basketball team opened Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) play with a hard-fought 70-64 loss to No. 21 Findlay Thursday night (December 4).

NU is now 3-2 overall, 0-1 in the GLIAC. Findlay improves to 2-1 overall, 1-0 in the GLIAC.

The Timberwolves never trailed and led by as many as nine in the opening half. The Timberwolves eventually took a 31-24 lead to halftime. Northwood held Findlay to just 30.4 percent shooting in the half (7-23). NU also out-rebounded the Oilers 22-15 in the opening 20 minutes.

Findlay did not take their first lead of the game until the 12:12 mark of the second half (40-39).NU went back on top shortly after and led 49-45 with less than eight minutes remaining. That is when Findlay went on the key run of the game – the Oilers rattled off 13 straight points to go up 58-49 with 3:29 remaining. 

UF led by 10 (63-53) with 1:12 remaining when Northwood made one final push. Maurice Jones (Saginaw, Mich./Arthur Hill/USC) converted a four-point play and then stole the ball. That steal eventually led to a 3-point play by Tony Johnson (Midland, Mich.), putting Northwood down 63-60 with 56 seconds remaining. But that is as close as the Timberwolves would come, as the Oilers connected on six straight free throws to put the game away.

For the game, Northwood finished at 39.3 percent from the floor (24-61) after entering the game shooting 52 percent as a team for the season. Findlay used a strong second half to finish at 42.3 percent overall for the game (22-52). The Oilers made one more 3-pointer than the Timberwolves (6-5) and out-scored the Timberwolves 20-11 from the foul line.

Will Bowles (East Detroit, Mich./Southlake) finished with his first double-double of the season and the 16^th of his career, finishing with 17 points and 10 rebounds. Jones ended up with 13 points six assists, five rebounds and four steals, Dylan Langkabel (Morristown, Ind.) finished with 16 points.

Northwood will travel to Wayne State Sunday (December 7). Game time is set for 4 p.m.