Midland, Mich. – The University of Findlay men's basketball team, ranked no. 13 in the country in the latest national poll, escaped on Thursday, Feb. 6 with a 76-73 overtime victory on the road against the Northwood University Timberwolves. With that victory the Oilers improve to 19-3 overall with a 12-2 mark in the Great Midwest Athletic Conference (G-MAC), remaining in first in the league standings. Northwood stays at the bottom of the G-MAC with a 7-15 record overall and a 3-11 record in the conference.
With this win, Charlie Ernst has now reached 200 conference wins in his time as the Oilers head coach. He collected 93 wins in Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) play and has now tallied 107 in the G-MAC.
As has been the case recently, the Oilers fell behind early. Northwood jumped out to a 7-0 advantage and led for almost the entirety of regulation. Findlay was ice cold from three-point range, starting the game 1-20 from deep which spanned 36 minutes of play.
Trailing by 12 with under six minutes to play, Findlay finally caught fire. A 16-3 run was spurred by a pair of triples and three steals, putting UF in front for the first time at 58-57 with 2:55 to play in the game.
Fast forward to the end of regulation and Northwood, which struggled from the free-throw line all night, went ahead 66-63 with a make from the charity stripe. Coming out of a timeout, senior Josh Thorbahn got an open look for three from the wing, with just a second on the clock, and drilled it, tying the score at 66-66 and sending the game to overtime.
The two teams had not played each other in an overtime game in 14 years. That contest, which was also played in Midland, Michigan, ended in a 92-87 win for the Oilers.
Fortune favored the Oilers in this instance, as well, as UF outscored the Timberwolves 10-7 in the extra period, forcing Northwood into three critical turnovers to help earn the win.
Findlay did not shoot it well, but was helped by a herculean effort on the offensive glass down the stretch. The Oilers won the rebounding battle 51-to-50, but of those 51 rebounds, 20 came on the offensive glass, and of those 20, 15 came in the second half and overtime.
Along with rebounding, defense was critical for the Oilers, as well. Findlay forced the Timberwolves into 20 turnovers, the fifth time this season UF has turned an opponent over 20 or more times. That effort turned into 26 points off turnovers while Northwood scored just four points off seven Findlay turnovers.
Close games often come down to free-throw shooting and for Northwood, that was a problem. The Timberwolves rank last in the country out of 290 Division II teams in free-throw percentage, making just 57% of their attempts this season. That number was even worse on Thursday when NU made just 10-of-22 from the charity stripe, helping keep the Oilers in the game.
Junior Max Roth, who had three steals, led the team with 17 points while sophomore Will Aljancic recorded a double-double with 14 points and 11 rebounds. Junior Jagger Landers had ten points and eight rebounds, four of which came on the offensive glass.
Sophomore Jake Bishop led the team with four steals and three assists. He also had six boards.
Findlay will be back in action on Saturday, Feb. 8 with a game against the Malone University Pioneers. That road game will tip off at 3:00 pm in Canton, Ohio.
