Box Score ASHLAND, Wis. -- The Northwestern men's basketball team needed overtime to accomplish their goal on Friday night, but the Eagles pulled out a 70-65 victory over Northland College. Down by eight points at halftime, NWC out-scored the LumberJacks 32-24 in the second half to earn the additional five-minute overtime period before winning their eighth game of the season.

NWC established an early lead as Wade Chitwood (Grinnell, Iowa/Grinnell) and Ethan Benton (Cedar Rapids, Iowa/Linn-Mar) hit jumpers to put the Eagles up 5-0. Northwestern maintained its slim lead until Northland turned a 16-11 Eagles lead into a 22-18 LumberJacks advantage in the course of seven minutes. The Purple and Gold tied the game at 24-24 on a Tom Gisler (Stewartville, Minn./Stewartville) free throw, but the home team went on an 8-0 run to end the half with a 32-24 lead.

Northland's lead increased to 11 before Northwestern went to work. Chitwood nailed a three-pointer before five straight points from Gabe Jefferson (Lincoln, Neb./Lincoln Southeast) brought the Eagles within four. The LumberJacks' Michael Mackey hit a big three to boost the lead back to eight, waking up NWC. After Kory Kiekoefer made the back end of two free throws, Gisler and Jefferson made consecutive treys before a lay-up from Chitwood turned the tables in the Eagles' favor at 47-46 with 5:38 to play in regulation. Just as a Sean Augustyn dunk sent a message that Northland wasn't going away easily, Ellis Libby (Bloomington, Minn./Jefferson) drained four straight attempts at the charity stripe. Each team made good on their free throw attempts as the clock slipped under a minute with the score knotted at 54-54. Lance Westberg (River Falls, Wis./River Falls) did his part for Northwestern, making a layup at the 32-second point before Augustyn countered with a game-tying shot with six seconds left, sending the game's result into extra innings.

Chitwood got the first bucket of extra time, a three-pointer that set the stage for the overtime period. Augustyn wouldn't let down as his free throw tied the game at 61-61 with 1:16 to play. Chitwood scored again, only for Adrian Flores to knot the score again at the free throw line. But then the Eagles' leading scorer made things final with an and-one play, making his ensuing free throw that caused the Jacks to foul before NWC left with a 70-65 win.

Despite earning the victory, Northwestern had one of its worst shooting nights of the season, making 24 of 64 attempts (37 percent). The Eagles had an even tougher night from long range, finishing at 7-23 from behind the three-point line. NWC earned points on offensive rebounds though, as 12 boards turned into 10 second chance points.

Chitwood wrapped up his night with 25 points, 10 of which came in overtime, on 9-18 shooting. Jefferson added 13 points and eight rebounds, while Libby had nine points to go with seven assists.

Mackey had 22 points to lead Northland while Flores had 12 points.

With the win, Northwestern improves to 8-7 overall and 3-1 in UMAC play. The Eagles won't celebrate long, with a game against the College of St. Scholastica in Duluth, Minn. tipping off in less than 24 hours. That contest is scheduled to start at 5 p.m. on Saturday.