The No. 25 ranked Ferris State men’s basketball team celebrates not only an 85-58 victory over Northwood but also a record-breaking night from senior guard Ethan Erickson.
This was game one of two in the annual GMAC-GLIAC crossover tournament.
Coming into the match, Erickson sat tied with former Bulldog Carlton Epps for the Ferris State all-time three-pointers made record with 240. With 5:59 left to go in the first half, Erickson knocked down 241 to put him alone at the top of the record books for the Bulldogs.
The record comes as a big achievement for Erickson.
“The record means a lot to me; it is something that I have worked on my whole life, and it was my goal when I came here.” Erickson said, “I want to shout out my teammates, they are always screening for me and getting me open all of the time.”
That number will surely continue to grow for Erickson who has averaged 2.4 three-pointers per game throughout his career.
Ferris started off the first half slower than normal shooting just 43.8% from the field (14-32) and scoring only 35 points.
However, defense and timely shooting allowed the Bulldogs to take a 35-27 lead into halftime.
The second half was a different story for Ferris as a whole, they outscored Northwood 50-31 in the second half.
The Timberwolves made a few attempts at runs to get back into the game but thanks to the Bulldogs shooting 50% from beyond the arc (6-12) in the second half and only allowing two threes from Northwood they were able to hang on.
Ferris was able to dominate the glass, outrebounding the Timberwolves 46-26. Staying on the glass was a large portion of the Bulldogs gameplan in the second half according to head coach Andy Bronkema.
“We allowed too many rebounds in the first half,” said Bronkema. “We talked at half and we needed to finish out the defensive stop with a rebound, being up twenty on the glass really helped us.”
Erickson led all scorers with 16, and junior center Nathan Claerbaut was right behind him with 13 points. Claerbaut also hauled in 11 rebounds to give him his first double-double on the season.
Ferris will be back at it tomorrow at 7 p.m. at home against Lake Erie College.