NMU men go cold in second half vs. LSSU
MARQUETTE – The Northern Michigan University men’s basketball jumped out to a 29-25 halftime lead but Lake Superior State would outscore the Wildcats 35-19 in the second half to give them a 60-48 win in Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference action. The loss bumps NMU to 6-13 on the year with a 4-9 GLIAC record, while the Lakers move to 16-3 with an 11-2 conference mark. Senior forward Chavis Mattison finished the game with a double-double to lead NMU scoring 20 points and grabbing 10 rebounds.
In what began as an offensive struggle, freshman guard Jordan Perez would make the first field goal of the game at the 17:02 mark to put the score at 2-2. The Wildcat defense held the Lakers without a field goal until 14:10 remained in the half when Alex Williams of LSSU connected on a three-point basket to put the score at 5-4 in favor of the Lakers. The game then had six ties before NMU used a 9-2 run to take the first significant lead of the game at 29-22 and 2:01 still on the clock. Lake Superior State connected on a three-pointer with seconds remaining to put the halftime score at 29-25.
The Northern Michigan bench did most of the scoring in the half outscoring the LSSU bench 19-4. NMU shot 12-25 (.480) from the field in the half, while holding Lake Superior State to 10-29 (.345). Mattison led all scorers at the half with 10 points.
Lake Superior managed to tie the game at 39-39 with 9:50 remaining in the contest before using a 9-0 run to pull ahead 48-39 with 6:32 on the clock. The Lakers scored eight points off of four NMU turnovers to kick-start the run.
The Lakers were able to maintain their lead the remainder of the game putting the final score at 60-48.
Lake Superior finished the game scoring 17 points off of 18 turnovers, while NMU was only able to score six points off six turnovers. The Lakers were also able to outscore NMU 34-22 in the paint for the game.
NMU finished the game shooting 18-45 (.400) and going 11-13 (.846) from the charity stripe.
Northern Michigan remains at home when they take on Northwood Saturday, Jan. 31 at approximately 1 p.m.
(Information/Photo Courtesy of NMU Athletics)