Men's Basketball Earns 76-71 Win Over Northern Michigan

The Northwood University men's basketball team used a strong second half to earn a 76-71 road win over Northern Michigan Saturday afternoon (February 1).

Northwood is now 13-9 overall, 10-4 in the GLIAC. Northern Michigan falls to 4-14 overall, 3-11 in the GLIAC.

The Timberwolves scored eight of the first 10 points of the game to take an early lead, but NMU was the better team the rest of the half.  The Wildcats used a 23-7 run to open up a 25-15 with less than seven minutes remaining in the half. NU fought back to cut the lead to two late in the half, but Northern Michigan knocked down a 3-pointer in the final seconds to go up 35-27 at the break. The Wildcats shot 65.2 percent from the floor (15-23) and 62.5 percent from 3-point range (5-8) in the opening 20 minutes.

It was Northwood's offense that was more effective in the second half, as the Timberwolves shot 56.5 percent from the floor (13-23). NU also went 3-6 from 3-point range and 20-23 from the foul line after the break. Northwood's defense also picked up - The Wildcats finished 12-33 from the floor (36.4 percent) and 4-12 from 3-point range (33.3 percent). The Timberwolves opened the second half on a 12-2 run and would only trail for less than three minutes the rest of the way.

For the game, Northwood finished at 48.9 percent overall (22-45) while Northern Michigan shot 48.1 percent (27-56). The Wildcats also made four more 3-pointers than the Timberwolves (9-5), but Northwood dominated the foul line.  NU was 27-33 from the line (81.8 percent) while NMU was just 8-10 (80 percent).

Five Timberwolves finished in double figures, led by Dylan Langkabel (Morristown, Ind.) with 21. He was 3-5 from the floor and 13-13 from the foul line. Darvin Ham (Saginaw, Mich./Bridgeport) added 14 points, while Khalid King (Columbus, Ohio/North Carolina A&T) and Wes Wilcox (Roselle, Ill./Harper) each added 11. Will Bowles (East Detroit, Mich./Southlake) had 10 points and shared game-high honors with eight rebounds.

Northwood will host rival Saginaw Valley State Monday night (February 3). Game time is set for 8 p.m.