Men's Basketball Opens Season With A 85-74 Win Over Illinois-Springfield

The Northwood University men's basketball team opened its 2013-14 season with an 85-74 win over Illinois-Springfield Saturday night (November 9).

The game was a part of the GLIAC/GLVC Challenge, which is being hosted by Lake Superior State.

Northwood got off to a slow start early, falling behind 8-2 with two missed shots and two turnovers in the first three minutes. The Prairie Stars took advantage of the Timberwolves' early shooting problems, opening up with a 10-5 lead. NU's three-pointers began to fall near the fifteen minute-mark, with Northwood connecting on seven three's in the first half. The Timberwolves were down 16-10 before going on a 23-2 run, putting NU ahead 33-18 with 4:30 remaining in the opening period. Northwood took the lead at 8:34 and never looked back, out-scoring Illinois-Springfield 25-10 the rest of the way to take a 41-26 lead to the locker room.

The second half saw the Timberwolves get off to a much better start – Northwood was able to extend their lead to 60-38 with 12:05 remaining in the second half on a free throw by Khalid King (Columbus, Ohio/North Carolina A&T). NU's lead would remain in the twenty's throughout the period.  Illinois-Springfield's 11 point deficit was the closest the Prairie Stars were able to get after halftime.

For the game, Northwood shot 50.0 percent from the floor (28-56) while holding the Prairie Stars to 32.9 percent (23-70). Illinois-Springfield out-scored the Timberwolves 22-20 at the stripe, but Northwood knocked down nine three-pointers in the contest.

Dylan Langkabel (Morristown, Ind.) scored a career-high 20 points, going 4-5 from beyond the arc to go with eight rebounds and five assists. Wes Wilcox (Roselle, Ill./Harper), also scored 20 points while grabbing nine rebounds and two blocks. Darvin Ham (Saginaw, Mich./Bridgeport) added 17 points, while King finished with 13 points and four rebounds coming off the bench. Will Bowles (East Detroit, Mich./South Lake) added 11 rebounds and 10 points. Joe Ruhlman (Freeland, Mich./Freeland) recorded six assists with just one turnover in 29 minutes of play.