Men's Basketball Downs Hillsdale 90-81

HILLSDALE, MICH. – The Northwood University men's basketball team picked up an important 90-81 road win over Hillsdale Thursday night (February 5).

Northwood improves to 12-10 overall, 8-8 in the GLIAC. Hillsdale falls to 10-10 overall, 8-8 in the GLIAC.

Hillsdale got off to a fast start in the game, scoring the first 10 points of the game. The Chargers made their first six shots of the game and went 5-6 from 3-point range to in the opening four minutes. HC's biggest lead was 18-5, but Northwood responded to the early deficit. The Timberwolves scored 26 of the next 38 points to take their first lead 31-30 with 3:20 remaining in the half.  Hillsdale connected on a 3-pointer in the final seconds to take a 38-36 lead to the locker room. Northwood ended up shooting 37.0 percent from the floor in the opening half (10-27), compared to Hillsdale at 48.4 percent (15-31). The foul line is where the Timberwolves held the edge in the half, out-scoring the Chargers 12-1 from the line.

Much like the first half, Hillsdale started the second half strong, going up 48-38 with just over 17 minutes remaining in the game. With the Charger lead at 54-50 with 12 minutes remaining, Northwood went on quick run that gave them the lead for good. NU scored nine points in 1:19 to go up 59-54. Eventually, Northwood would score 19 of the next 23 points to open up a 69-58 advantage with 7:11 remaining in the game. Hillsdale got no closer than six the rest of the way. The Timberwolves offense performed at an extremely high level in the second half, scoring 54 points while shooting 73.9 percent from the floor (17-23). NU went 3-5 from 3-point range in the half and committed just two turnovers.

For the game, Northwood shot 54.0 percent from the floor (27-50) and 53.8 percent from 3-point range (7-13). Hillsdale ended up at 49.3 percent overall (31-63) and 40.0 percent from beyond the arc (12-30). The foul line was the key to the win for the Timberwolves, as Northwood out-scored Hillsdale 29-7 from the line.

Leading the way for Northwood was junior point guard Maurice Jones (Saginaw, Mich./USC), who used a tremendous second half performance to finish with a game-high 25 points, eight assists, four rebounds and two steals. In the second half alone, Jones had 19 points on 6-6 shooting from the floor and five assists.  Dylan Langkabel (Morristown, Ind.) had 15 points and five rebounds. Will Bowles (East Detroit, Mich./South Lake added 12 points. Khalid King (Columbus, Ohio/North Carolina A&T) kept Northwood in the game when NU was struggling in the opening half, scoring all 12 of his points in the opening 20 minutes.

Northwood will host Saginaw Valley State Saturday evening (February 7). Game time is set for 6 p.m.