Men's Basketball Defeats Hillsdale 74-69

MIDLAND, MICH. – The Northwood University men's basketball team improved to 10-5 on the season with a 74-69 win over Hillsdale Thursday night (January 15).

Northwood improves to 6-3 in the GLIAC with the win. Hillsdale falls to 8-5 overall, 6-3 in the GLIAC.

The Timberwolves got off to a fast start in the game, scoring the first 11 points of the contest in the opening 3:37. Hillsdale fought back, eventually cutting the lead down to two at 23-21. But the Timberwolves responded with another run, scoring 23 of the next 32 points to open their biggest lead of the night at 46-30. HC scored the final five points of the half to send the game to the break with NU leading 46-35. Northwood finished the opening half shooting 56.7 percent (17-30) while Hillsdale ended up at 52.0 percent (13-25). Points off turnovers were huge in the first half – Northwood finished with a 17-2 advantage.

Northwood led by 15 early in the second half, but once again Hillsdale would not go away. The Chargers cut the lead down to 64-61 with 7:05 remaining in the game.  Defenses took over in the final moments – with Northwood leading 67-63 with 5:42 remaining, the two teams would combine to score just four points (two each) in the next 5:16 of the game. NU went 5-6 from the foul line in the final 26 seconds to clinch the win.

For the game, the Timberwolves finished right at 50.0 percent (27-54). Hillsdale ended up at 45.6 percent (26-57). The Chargers won the battle on the glass 37-27, while Northwood finished with five fewer turnovers (11-6).

Four Timberwolves finished in double figures, led by junior Khalid King (Columbus, Ohio/North Carolina A&T). He came off the bench to score 19 points, going 6-8 from the floor and 4-5 from 3-point range. Will Bowles (East Detroit, Mich./South Lake) while making 5-8 from the floor and 7-10 from the foul line. Jermaine Myers (Ajax, Ont./Fordham U.) finished with 13 points, six rebounds, five assists and four steals. Maurice Jones (Saginaw, Mich./USC) added 11 points and eight assists.

Northwood will travel to rival Saginaw Valley State Saturday afternoon (January 17).  The game will get under way at 7 p.m.