Men's Basketball Defeats Ashland 74-55

The Northwood University men's basketball team delivered a stellar performance in a 74-55 home victory on Thursday evening (January 2) over Ashland University.

The Timberwolves improve to 8-5 overall on the season and 4-1 in the GLIAC. Ashland drops to 4-5, 1-4 GLIAC, with the loss.

The Eagles jumped out to an early 6-2 lead over the Timberwolves at the 16:00 mark. Northwood bounced back, going on an 8-2 run in the next four minutes to take an 8-10 lead. For the remainder of the half NU would not relinquish that lead, extending it to as many as eight points (26-18) with 2:29 remaining. The Timberwolves led 29-23 at the break, thanks in large part to their defensive efforts holding Ashland to 30.0 percent from the floor (9-30) and 13.3 percent from beyond the arc (2-15). Northwood shot 38.5 percent on 10-26 shooting and went 5-11 from the three point range for 45.5 percent.

NU came out of the locker room firing, extending their lead to 13 on a 10-0 run spanning over three minutes. A pair of free throws for the Eagles cut the lead to 11 with 17:13 remaining, but Ashland would not get any closer. A combination of shooting 40.9 percent (9-22) from the three point line and holding Ashland to 18.2 percent (4-22) from beyond the arc were keys to the victory.

For the game, Northwood shot 42.0 percent from the floor (21-50), compared to 34.7 percent for the Eagles. NU also out-rebounded Ashland 43-28, while grabbing 13 offensive boards.

Four Timberwolves finished in double figures. Darvin Ham (Saginaw, Mich. / Bridgeport) led all scorers with 19 points. Dylan Langkabel (Morristown, Ind. / Morristown) chipped in 18 points, six rebounds and a pair of steals; while Khalid King (Columbus, Ohio / North Carolina A&T) added 13 points. Wes Wilcox (Roselle, Ill. / Harper) finished with 11 points, to go along with seven rebounds and six assists.

Northwood returns to action January 4 for Alumni Day. The Timberwolves will take on Lake Erie with a tip off time of 8 p.m.