Strong First Half Performance Fuels Northwood Past FSU

Midland, Mich. - A first-half run sparked Northwood to a 81-65 victory over Ferris State in Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) men's basketball action on Thursday (Feb. 13) evening at the Bennett Sports Center in Midland.

Northwood broke open a close game in the first half and took a 31-18 lead at the break while holding FSU to only 25.8% shooting in the initial frame.

The Timberwolves pushed the lead to as many as 25 points with 12:19 to go in the second half before the Bulldogs trimmed it down to 12 late in the game, but could get no closer down the stretch.

Junior guard Drew Lehman led FSU with a game-high 20 points while sophomore guard Jibreel Jackson added 17 points in the setback. FSU also received nine points apiece from sophomore forward Josh Fleming along with junior guard Dietrich Lever.

Northwood placed five players in double-digits with Wes Wilcox leading the way with 18 points. Dylan Langkabel added 16 points, Darvin Ham scored 16 points, Khalid King chipped in 11 points and Lavonte Davis netted 10 points.

The Timberwolves dominated the glass most of the night as they held a 46-24 edge on the boards and came down with 15 offensive caroms to only eight for FSU. That helped lead to an 18-10 margin for Northwood in second chance production.

Northwood jumped in front early and never trailed in the game while improving to 16-10 overall and 12-6 in conference play. FSU dropped to 7-14 overall and 6-11 in league action.

Overall, NU shot 45.6% for the night and hit four-of-12 (33.3%) three-point tries. The Timberwolves also posted a decided advantage at the free throw stripe where they connected on 25-of-26 (96.2%) attempts compared to FSU's 11-of-14 (78.6%) effort.

The Bulldog managed to outscore Northwood 15-10 in points off turnovers as FSU limited its own mistakes to 10 on the night and forced 14 NU miscues. Ferris State came up with seven steals off of Northwood's turnovers.

Both Lever and Lehman dished out four assists for the Bulldogs with senior forward Raymoan McAfee grabbing a team-high seven rebounds and accounting for four of FSU's five blocked shots in the contest.

Junior forward Will Bowles led NU on the glass with a game-high 11 rebounds and King handed out six assists with Langkabel adding five helpers. NU had four steals and four blocked shots overall.

The victory was Northwood's second over Ferris State this season as the two teams previously met in Big Rapids on Jan. 23 with NU scoring a close 66-65 win on a controversial foul call in the closing seconds.

Ferris State will be back on the road on Saturday (Feb. 15) as the Bulldogs visit Lake Superior State for a 3 p.m. (ET) start. Saturday's contest can be heard live on Sunny 97.3 FM and the Bulldog Sports Network online at FerrisStateBulldogs.com with Rob Bentley calling the play-by-play action.

The Bulldogs have five games remaining in the regular-season heading into Saturday's tilt against the nationally 20th-ranked Lakers, including three home games inside FSU's Jim Wink Arena. FSU hosts Wayne State next Thursday (Feb. 20) night in Big Rapids.