Oilers Drop 3rd Straight, Fall 69-65 to Northwood
The University of Findlay men's basketball team fell 69-65 to Northwood University on Thursday, February 11 in Midland, Michigan. The loss gives the Oilers a 16-6 record on the season with a 12-5 mark in the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC).
The Oilers, who were down 24-10 with five minutes to play in the opening half, closed the period on a 14-4 run to climb within four at 28-24 when the buzzer sounded. Findlay then battled back to take the lead but the Timberwolves weren't going away easy as they eventually regained the lead at 49-48 with 5:25 to play.
After battling back and forth exchanging the leads, Northwood took a 57-54 lead when Chris Johnson connected on a jumper with 1:33 to play. Senior guard Marcus Parker then converted a lay-up and was fouled but he missed the free throw and a chance to tie which led to a basket by the Timberwolves with under a minute to play.
A turnover by the Oilers led to two more points for Northwood as they claimed a 61-56 lead with 48 ticks remaining.
Trailing by five, junior guard Nathan Hyde connected on a lay-up to cut the lead to three at 61-58 with 41 seconds left in the game.
After a free throw by the Timberwolves, Parker hit a pair from the charity stripe to make the score 62-60 but that was the closest the Oilers would get the rest of the way as Northwood hit their free throws down the stretch to preserve the win.
The Oilers were led by Hyde's 25 points on 10-of-17 shooting while Parker chipped in 19 points, four rebounds and four assists.
Junior forward Tyler Sparks chipped in eight points, seven rebounds and four assists as the Oilers dropped their third straight game, the first time Findlay has lost three times in a row since the 2000-01 campaign.
As a team, Findlay shot 41.8 percent (23-of-55) from the field and were out-rebounded 39-23 in the loss.
Northwood was led by both Dorian Pierce and Lionel Sullivan who scored 19 and 17 points respectively.
The Oilers will be back in action again on Saturday when they travel to Detroit, Michigan to take on Wayne State University at 3:00 p.m.