Even with the slow start, the Ferris State University men’s basketball team came back from a 12 point half time deficit to blow out the Wildcats of Northern Michigan University.
After Thursday’s tough loss against Michigan Tech, the Bulldogs faced adversity after the first 20 minutes of action against NMU. After Trailing 37-25 going into half time, it was time to make adjustments.
“As a team we have really come together, our effort, intensity and the way our team shares the ball has really been great lately,” FSU freshman guard Drew Lehman said, who added a game-high 23 points to propel the Bulldogs to victory.
The second half proved to be very promising for the Bulldogs as the team defense really stepped up as the Wildcats were outscored by a 44-18 margin. NMU managed only four made field goals and shot a woeful 20 percent in the second half.
The Bulldogs led the majority of the statistics for this game. Senior FSU forward Jerrell Sanders led the game with 10 total rebounds. Another convincing mark for FSU was the bench points as the Bulldog reserves outscored the Wildcats by a margin of 31-4.
Other Bulldog contributors included a 13-point performance by junior guard Kenny Brown and a 12-point performance by senior guard Dontae Molden. Molden along with Sanders and Lehman all earned three assists to lead the contest.
“This win felt really good, especially coming off of the loss against [Michigan] Tech,” Lehman said. “It was definitely exciting to get a victory and keep pace in the GLIAC North.”
With the victory, FSU improved to a 7-3 conference record with a 10-7 record overall and the Bulldogs regained a tie at the top of the GLIAC North Division with Michigan Tech University.
“The goal is to win the GLIAC North Division,” Lehman continued. “After that we want to win the GLIAC tournament.”
The Bulldogs are more than half way done with the season and are sitting in a good place to make a run for the division, as the Bulldogs now go onto a five game home stretch against the likes of 3-7 Lake Superior State University, 2-7 Lake Erie Community College and 5-5 Grand Valley State University.
The Bulldogs believe they have all the makings of winning the division and hope the play of late continues and eventually turns into a GLIAC North title.