Ferris State Battles For 11th-Straight Win To Remain On Top Of GLIAC Standings

Big Rapids, Mich. - It took a full 40-minute effort, but the Ferris State University men's basketball squad registered its 11th-straight win and remained in first place in the GLIAC standings as the Bulldogs recorded an 86-80 road win at Northern Michigan on Thursday (Jan. 26) night inside NMU's Berry Events Center.

The Bulldogs topped the 80-point mark for the 11th-straight outing and improved to 16-3 overall and 10-2 in the GLIAC by beating the Wildcats, who are guided by former FSU head coach Bill Sall.

The Wildcats came into the game having won three of their last four outings and battled the Bulldogs in the tightly-contested GLIAC North Division battle.

Ferris State used a late first-half surge to take a 46-35 halftime lead and increased the advantage to as many as 17 points early in the second half before the Wildcats rallied. NMU cut the margin down to five points at one stage, but FSU made enough plays in the end to pull out the road triumph.

FSU, which opened a three-game league road swing, was led by sophomore forward Markese Mayfield, who scored 17 of his team-high 19 points in the opening half. FSU also received a double-double performance from sophomore center Zach Hankins with 15 points and 13 rebounds.

The Bulldogs had two other players reach double-digits as junior guard Peter Firlik tallied 13 points and senior guard Quentin Ruff chipped in 10 points.

Meanwhile, Northern Michigan was led by point guard Naba Echols, who netted a game-high 21 points. Isaiah Johnson and Myles Howard both contributed 12 points while Ian Hodges and Jordan Perez totaled 11 points each.

The Bulldogs shot 50% from the floor and went 17-of-21 (81%) from the free throw line while making only three-of-10 (30%) three's. NMU hit on 40% of its field goals and sank nine-of-32 (28.1%) long range tries along with 11-of-12 (91.7%) attempts from the charity stripe.

Ferris State was outrebounded 43-39 for the game, but had only nine turnovers against an NMU squad which played a lot of zone. FSU also dished out 21 assists, including four players with three each.

The win sets up a first-place showdown atop the GLIAC North Division on Saturday (Jan. 28) as FSU visits Michigan Tech for a 3 p.m. (ET) league game in Houghton. The Huskies trail the Bulldogs by a single game heading into the contest.

Following the trip to Michigan's Upper Peninsula, FSU then visits rival Grand Valley State on Monday (Jan. 30) night for an 8 p.m. (ET) GLIAC game in Allendale to wrap up the three-game road swing.