Hall leads Wildcat men past Findlay
MARQUETTE, Mich. — The Northern Michigan University men’s basketball team never trailed as they picked up an 81-74 win over Findlay in Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference action Saturday at the Berry Events Center.
NMU now stands at 3-0 in GLIAC play, its best start since the 2005-06 season while they improved to 5-4 overall. Findlay fell to 2-4 overall with a 1-3 league mark.
Sophomore guard Marcus Hall led four Wildcats in double-digit scoring with a team-high 17. Hall was 6-9 from the floor and 3-4 from three point range while sinking 2-3 from the charity stripe. Junior guard Terry Nash was second on the squad with 13 followed by junior guard Ethan Black well with 12 and senior forward Chavis Mattson with 11.
NMU got solid production off the bench as their reserves outscored the Oilers 32-16 in the outing.
The Wildcats out rebounded the Oilers 34-26 and outscored Findlay 30-28 in the paint. Mattson led NMU with seven rebounds in the outing.
“Right now its nice for the team because we are seeing them continue to gel, they are really playing great team basketball and we are getting contributions from every guy going in there,” said NMU head coach Bill Sall. “Which is what we need to have happen. I think one thing we are seeing has the team tries to develop is everyone has a role and they are able to do their job correctly and they are doing what we need them to do. Findlay over the last 10 years is probably the most productive team and is the pinnacle of what the GLIAC is all about and for us to be able to get that win is huge for us. Again, I can’t be happier about how our games are playing and we can still see a bunch of levels of improvement for where we are at.”
A three-pointer by freshman forward Alex Sorenson with 16:39 left in the second half gave NMU its largest lead of the game 44-30. The Oilers managed to get within two-points of the Wildcats lead with 20-seconds remaining but NMU went 5-6 from the free throw line in the final 20-seconds of action to seal the victory.
Mattison came off the bench to lead NMU with nine first-half points. In the opening frame the Wildcats shot 55.6-percent from the floor, 3-5 from three point range and took a 34-28 lead into the locker room at the break.
The Wildcats led from the opening bell and took a 10 point lead, 21-11, when Mattison hit a jumper with 9:02 left in the first half.
NMU finished the game shooting 56.5-percent from the floor connecting on 30-53 of their attempts. They also shot 69.2-percent from three point range 9-13 and went 12-19 from the free throw line including 11-18 in the second half.
NMU returns to action at 5 p.m. Monday when they host Wayne State in GLIAC action at the Berry Events Center.
(Information Courtesy of NMU Athletics)