Box Score (NORTH CANTON, Ohio) Northern Michigan (3-4, 1-0) stunned Walsh (4-1, 0-1) 70-61 in the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference opener for both teams tonight at Alumni Arena. The Cavs are back in GLIAC action on Saturday when they host 20th ranked Michigan Tech at 3 pm. The game will be broadcast live on WNPQ FM 95.9 and streamed live on TEAMLINE.
Walsh never got on track shooting the ball and trailed 38-24 at the half. The Wildcats hit 5-10 from three-point in the first half, while the Cavs connected on only 1-9 from three-point and just 8-29 from the field. Walsh trailed 25-21 with 7:16 to go in the half when the Wildcats went on an 8-3 run to lead 33-24 with 3:56 to play. From this point, NMU kept Walsh off the scoreboard the rest of the half and closed the first 20 minutes on a 6-0 run to lead by 14 points at halftime.
After falling behind by 16 points (42-26) early in the second half, the Cavs began to show signs of life around the 14-minute mark.
Walsh began to whittle away at the Wildcats lead with closed to seven points at 46-39 with 14:04 to play on a Trey Fletcher (So., 6-6, Ironton, OH / HS) jumper.
After NMU pushed the lead back to 10 points at 50-40 with 12:33 left, Walsh used an 8-2 run to cut the lead to 52-48 with 8:59 to play.
NMU would answer and push the lead back to seven points at 56-49 with 7:46 left.
Walsh would rally again with a 5-0 run and cut the lead to 56-54 on two Davonte Beard (Sr., 6-3, Akron, OH / St. Vincent-St. Mary)free throws with 6:02 left. It would be as close as the Cavs would come.
NMU led 62-54 with 2:57 to play, when Walsh rallied and cut the led to three points at 62-59 on a Fletcher three-pointer.
Walsh would cut the lead to three points again at 64-61 with 49 seconds left when Jeff Copeland (Sr., 6-5, Toledo, OH/ St. John's Jesuit) split two free throws. It would be the Cavs last run.
The Cavs poor shooting proved costly, as the connected on just 19-55 for 35% from the floor. They were just 2-15 from three-point. They were able to stay in the game from the line connecting on 21-28.
Fletcher led Walsh with 20 points on 7-15 from the floor. Copeland had a double-double with 19 points and 10 rebounds. He was 11-15 from the line. Beard added 13 points on 4-5 from the field and 5-6 from the line.
The Wildcats were led by Marcus Hall and Jordan Perez who each scored 11 points. NMU shot 48% from the field and out-rebounded the Cavs 40-34. They also blocked seven shots. The game was never tied, and Walsh held its only lead at 2-0.
