Bulldog Men Storm Back To Stun Northwood

Midland, Mich. - The Ferris State University men's basketball team rallied from a 21-point second half defecit to stun Northwood by a 69-64 score on Saturday (Dec. 10) evening at the Bennett Sports Center in Midland, Mich.

NU led 33-18 at halftime and was up by 21 points with 15:22 to play in the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) contest before the Bulldogs rallied back to register their sixth-straight victory.

Ferris State outscored Northwood 51-31 in the second half in improving to 6-3 overall and 3-0 in GLIAC play.  NU dropped to 5-4 overall and 2-2 in conference action.

Junior guard Kenny Brown (Farmington Hills/Harrison) fueled the FSU comeback with a game-high 29 points in the outing, including a five-of-12 showing from the three-point line.

Freshman guard Dietrich Lever (Detroit/Canton) added 10 points for Ferris State in capping the comeback win.

Northwood was led by Bobby Lewis' 17 points.  They also received 15 points from Booker Stoudmire and 10 by Andrew VanDierenDonck.

FSU shot 53.1% in the second half after shooting only 22.6% in the initial 20 minutes.  They also forced 13 Northwood turnovers and held a 18-3 edge in offensive boards.

After Northwood built its largest lead at 43-22 with 15:22 remaining, the Bulldogs answered with a 15-3 run to pull within eight points only four minutes later.  NU eventually pushed the margin back to 10 points with eight minutes to go, but the Bulldogs kept chipping away at the Northwood lead.

Ferris State tied the game up at 60 points apiece with 2:31 remaining on a free throw from Lever and took the lead with 1:53 to play on a made attempt from senior forward Jerrell Sanders (Grand Rapids/Creston).

A tip-in with 1:29 left by Northwood's Wes Wilcox gave the Timberwolves a one-point lead, but FSU responded with a jumper from Brown.  Lever knocked down two free throws after coming up with a steal defensively to push the lead to three points with 19 seconds remaining and FSU made four more free throws in the final seven seconds to ice the victory.

Ferris State finished with a 38.1% (24-63) shooting figure and the Bulldogs were eight-of-28 (28.6%) beyond the three-point arc in addition to 13-of-20 (65%) at the free throw line.

Northwood converted 24-of-44 (54.5%) field goals and hit six-of-14 (42.9%) three's to go with a 10-of-17 (58.8%) effort at the free throw stripe.

Ferris State finished with 18 assists, eight steals and a blocked shot in comparison to Northwood's 15 helpers, five blocks and four thefts.  FSU had nine turnovers with only one coming in the second half.

Senior guard Dontae Molden (Detroit/Pershing) added nine points and a game-high seven assists for the Bulldogs while Sanders totaled eight points, eight rebounds and four assists.  FSU also received fours teals to go with seven points by freshman guard Drew Lehman (Toledo/Central Catholic).

The Bulldogs improved to 53-24 all-time versus NU with the victory in Saturday's 75th series' meeting and the win was the 13th for FSU head coach Bill Sall in 20 career matchups against the Timberwolves.  Ferris State has beat Northwood 11th times in the last 15 games between the two schools.

Northwood was coming off a decisive 64-44 league home win over Grand Valley State on Wednesday (Dec. 7) evening in Midland before falling to FSU, which is the defending GLIAC North Division champion.

Ferris State returns home to host Michigan Tech in leauge play on Sunday, Dec. 18, at 3 p.m. (ET) inside FSU's Jim Wink Arena in Big Rapids.  The Bulldogs then face Northern Michigan the following day (Dec. 19) at 7 p.m. (ET) in a conference home game.