Box Score

ASHLAND, Wis. – The Northwestern men's basketball team suffered a 57-56 setback to Northland College on Saturday afternoon, making the 3.5 hour trip home a little longer for the Eagles, who drop to 8-10 overall this season. The loss is just UNW's second in the team's last 11 UMAC games.

Northwestern's only lead of the game came at the 19:26 mark when Caleb Janson (Pierz, Minnesota/Pierz Healy)'s free throw gave the Eagles the slimmest of margins at 1-0. From that point on, Northland shot out of the gate with a 15-4 that had the home team leading by 11 at 16-5. UNW, who committed a limited amount of turnovers throughout the entire game, couldn't buy a bucket for much of the initial period, as the Eagles' misses turned into points for the LumberJacks on the opposite end of the court. Northland's lead expanded to as much as 13 points in the first half before Thomas Shephard (Crystal, N.D./Valley-Edinburg) sparked a Northwestern run that went eight straight points, sending both teams into the locker room with a 34-29 halftime score in the Jacks' favor.

Northland made the first two baskets of the second round and the LumberJacks' lead again teetered between seven and 10 points as the Eagles went minutes without a made field goal. Steven Willey (Fort Calhoun, Neb./Fort Calhoun) hit a three-pointer that cut the Northland edge to six at the 9:19 mark, but, like he had for much of the night, the Jacks' Zach Ringhouse answered right back with a basket of his own to help maintain his team's buffer on the scoreboard. Blake Van Maanen (Oshkosh, Wis./Valley Christian) drained a pair of threes that got the lead down to three, but again, Ringhouse answered with a trey.

A mid-range make from Janson helped get the Northland lead down to one as precious seconds ticked off the clock that had slipped to 1:56. Each team traded missed jumpers before Will Gisler (Stewartville, Minn./Stewartville)'s layup opportunity with two seconds left didn't go down, giving the LumberJacks their first conference victory of the 2013-2014 campaign.

Northwestern and Northland nearly matched each other in shooting as the Eagles made 21 of 52 shots (40.4 percent) on the night while the Jacks went 20 of 51 (39.2 percent). Shephard led UNW with 14 points off the bench, going 5-6 overall while making all four of his three-point attempts in 21 minutes of action. Gisler added 13 points, but as a team, the Eagles were outrebounded, giving Northland a few extra opportunities.

Ringhouse torched Northwestern for 28 points as the junior went 11-16 from the field and 6-10 from downtown. Tyler Peterson chipped in 10 points for the now 3-14 LumberJacks.

Northwestern won't have much time to think about Saturday's loss with another UMAC contest right around the corner as North Central University comes to the Ericksen Center on Tuesday, Feb. 4 for a 7:30 p.m. midweek contest.