Men's Basketball Takes Down Western Michigan 85-81

OVERVIEW – WESTERN MICHIGAN

SCORE: Northwood Timberwolves 85, Western Michigan Broncos 81 (Exhibition for NU, regular season for WMU)

RECORDS: Northwood (0-0), Western Michigan (1-1)

LOCATION: Read Fieldhouse – Kalamazoo, Mich.

RECAP: Northwood men's basketball opens the exhibition portion of their schedule with an impressive 85-81 road win over Division I Western Michigan Thursday night (November 6).

GAME STORY

• Western Michigan opened the game with the first two points and held a 4-3 lead at the 17:28 mark.
• That, however, would prove to be the last lead of the night for the Broncos.
• The Timberwolves led 8-6 when Northwood posted a 17-5 run to take a 25-11 lead with 12:38 remaining in the half.
• Northwood led 39-24 with six minutes remaining in the first when WMU went on a run. The Broncos scored 15 of the final 20 points to make the Northwood lead 44-39 at the break.
• Western Michigan shot a higher percentage than Northwood in the first half (55.6%-40.0%), but Northwood made two more three pointers (5-3) and five more free throws (11-6) to earn the lead. NU also held a 12-5 edge on offensive rebounds in the half.
• Northwood held a 56-49 lead in the second half when the Broncos went on a 9-2 run to tie the score at 58-58 with 11:48 remaining.
• WMU tied the score four times in the second half but did not take the lead at any point.
• The Timberwolves led 78-75 with less than two minutes remaining when NU scored four straight points to take an 82-75 lead with 32 seconds remaining.
• The Broncos got no closer than three the rest of the way, giving Northwood the exhibition victory.

GAME STATS

• FG PERCENTAGE: Western Michigan .474 (27-57), Northwood .441 (30-68)
• 3-PT PERCENTAGE: Western Michigan .385 (5-13), Northwood .296 (8-27)
• FREE THROW PERCENTAGE: Western Michigan .667 (22-33), Northwood .680 (17-25)
• REBOUNDS: Western Michigan 42 (13 offensive), Northwood 35 (13 offensive)
• ASSISTS/TURNOVERS: Western Michigan 11/22, Northwood 21/15

TOP NU PERFORMERS

• Parker Day: 20 points, three assists, 8-14 from the floor
• Julian Lewis: 15 points, four assists, 4-8 from 3-point range
• Jamison Eklund: 13 points, six rebounds, three steals
• Will Young II: 11points, seven rebounds, three assists, three steals, two blocks
• John Simpson: 12 points, 6-7 from the floor
• Brayden Szamrej: Six assists

NORTHWOOD NOTES

• The last time Northwood defeated a Division I program in an exhibition game was November 13, 2005, when Northwood downed Central Michigan 92-71.

UP NEXT

• The Timberwolves open the regular season with a home game against Ferris State next Friday (November 14). Game time is set for 7 p.m.