STEVENS POINT, Wis. – The Northland College Men's Basketball team was downed on the road 77-52 against the undefeated University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point Tuesday night in Stevens Point, Wis.
The Pointers on the first shot of the game made a three-pointer to take the early lead.
Ari Pierson grabbed an offensive rebound and later scored for Northland's first basket. Another UWSP three-ball extended the lead to four.
Donovan Washington answered back from deep to keep the game within one.
The Jacks would tie the game up three times in the first eight minutes but could not find the lead.
Tyler Tuura scored in the paint to level the score at 12 but a nine-point run from the Pointers gave them their largest lead thus far.
Gavin Bartlett connected from deep to end the UWSP run and two drives later
Hayden Harmoning scored his first points of the game to cut the advantage to four. During the final seven minutes, the Jacks would match the Pointer in scoring but found themselves trailing 28-36 at the half.
UW-Stevens Point started the second half the same way as the first with an early three-pointer to go up 11. Northland responded with its largest run of the game with eight points with
Jahlani Thornton scoring the last four. That was the closest NC would be to taking the lead as the Pointers soon would go up 17 points with under 10 minutes remaining. The LumberJacks battled but couldn't catch back up and ultimately fell 77-52.
More than half of Northland's points come from off the bench with 28. Freshman
Gavin Bartlett paced the team with 13 after shooting 4-for-6 from the floor, 3-of-4 from three, and 2-of-3 from the free throw line. Thornton was behind him with 12 points and was one rebound shy of his second double-double of the season.
Damian Cejka assisted on a team-high four baskets and
Stephen Kesti had the team's sole block.
The Jacks have their home opener on Saturday when they host Bethel University at 3:30 p.m.
Northland College is an NCAA Division III institution located in Ashland, WI. The LumberJacks and LumberJills sponsor 14 varsity sports and compete in the Upper Midwest Athletic Conference, Midwest Lacrosse Conference, and the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference.
