Men's Basketball Defeats Saginaw Valley State 86-72

The Northwood University men's basketball team earned a berth in the GLIAC Tournament with an 86-72 win over Saginaw Valley State Saturday night (February 2).

Northwood finishes the regular season 13-13 overall, 12-10 in the GLIAC.  Saginaw Valley ends the season at 12-13 overall, 10-12 in the GLIAC.

The game was one of the biggest in rivalry between the two teams, as the winner of the game would earn a spot in the tournament while the loser's season would come to an end.

Northwood was forced to play without three-year starting point guard Cameron Joyce (Akron, Ohio/St. Vincent St. Mary's), who missed the game with an injury. Joyce entered the game leading the GLIAC in assists while ranking fifth nationally in assist-to-turnover ratio.

SVSU was the better team early, leading by as many as seven in the opening 13 minutes of the contest. But a 10-2 run by the Timberwolves gave Northwood a 29-29 lead in the final three minutes of the half.  The score eventually was tied at halftime 33-33.  Northwood shot 48.1 percent from the floor (13-27) in the opening half, while SVSU finished at 47.8 percent (11-23).

Northwood took control of the game at the start of the second half, scoring 19 of the first 23 points to open up a 52-37 lead with 13:49 remaining.  NU's lead grew to as many as 20 after that while SVSU got no closer than 12 the rest of the way. NU shot 64 percent from the floor in the second half (16-25) en route to scoring 53 points.

For the game, Northwood finished at 55.8 percent overall (29-52) while SVSU shot 42.9 percent (24-56).  NU also went 22-27 from the foul line (81.5 percent).

Four starters finished in double figures for Northwood, led by Wes Wilcox (Roselle, Ill./Harper) and Will Bowles (East Detroit, Mich./South Lake) with 16 each.  Andrew VanDierenDonck (Wyandotte, Mich./Roosevelt) added 15 points, while Darvin Ham (Saginaw, Mich./Bridgeport) finished with 14.  Filling in for the injured Joyce, Joe Ruhlman (Freeland, Mich.) had eight points, four assists and two steals.

Northwood, who earned the seventh-seed for the upcoming GLIAC Tournament, will take on second-seeded Michigan Tech Wednesday night (March 6).  Game time is set for 5:30 p.m.