Men's Basketball Falls To Lake Erie 102-79

The Northwood University men's basketball team drops a devastating 102-79 loss to Lake Erie Saturday afternoon (January 4).

The Timberwolves fall to 8-6 on the season, 4-2 in the GLIAC. The Storm improve to 5-7 overall and 2-4 in the GLIAC.

Lake Erie started the game shooting 6-7 from the floor to claim an early 16-8 lead. The Timberwolves fought back, scoring on eight of their next ten attempts leading 25-21 at the 10:07 mark. Northwood continued their run, outscoring Lake Erie 7-3 for their biggest lead of the game at 32-24 with 6:05 remaining. However, in the final six minutes the Storm would convert on six three-pointers to reclaim a 46-38 edge entering the locker room. Northwood shot 48.4 percent (15-31) from the floor, while Lake Erie recorded 44.4 percent (16-36).

The shooting continued in to the second half, as Lake Erie extended their lead to eleven on another three-pointer by the Storm's Riley Thomas. Thomas finished with 32 points, on 10-21 shooting and 7-13 from beyond the arc. Northwood's Wes Wilcox (Roselle, Ill. / Harper) stepped up, scoring 19 points in the second half. A three-pointer by Wilcox at the 17:25 mark brought NU within five (52-47), but the Timberwolves would not get any closer. Lake Erie's outside shooting was the obvious key in what proved to be a matchup of the three pointers. The Storm was able to convert on 18 three's in the contest and lead by as many as 25 in the closing minutes.

For the game, both teams shot 50.0 percent from the floor but the real story came from beyond the arc. Lake Erie dominated the long range at 56.3 percent (18-32), while Northwood shot 8-26 for 30.8 percent. Other keys of the game included the Storm converting 32 points off of Northwood's 16 turnovers and having 19 second chance points versus just nine for the Timberwolves. Northwood out-rebounded the Storm 40-36, while Lake Erie delivered an impressive 24 assists and recorded just six turnovers as a team.

Wes Wilcox led the way for the Timberwolves, finishing with 28 points and 15 rebounds for his third double-double of the season, to go along with five assists and three blocks. Dylan Langkabel (Morristown, Ind. / Morristown) netted 18 points, while Darvin Ham (Saginaw, Mich. / Bridgeport) added nine points, seven rebounds and five assists.

Northwood will travel to Tiffin Thursday (January 9). Game time is set for 8 p.m.