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Freshmen Lead NMU Wildcats Past Finlandia 77-45
MARQUETTE---Three freshmen scored in double figures Wednesday night as the Northern Michigan University Wildcats basketball team topped U.P. rival Finlandia, 77-45, Wednesday night at the Berry Events Center.
NMU freshman Cooper Radtke came off the bench to score 14 points to lead the Wildcats, while fellow freshmen Alex Sorenson chipped in eleven points and Jordan Perez had ten points.
Upper Peninsula high school graduates filled Finlandia's roster. The Lion's Eric Lori of Negaunee led all scorers with 17 points, while Ewen-Trout Creek's Jordan LaPlant added twelve points and seven rebounds. Escanaba's Brandon Robinette had seven points and six rebounds, and Gladstone's Mike Cretens played 16 minutes and scored two points.
For Northern, Mid Peninsula's Brett Branstrom scored seven points and grabbed five rebounds. Finlandia led, 19-17, with less than eight minutes left in the first half before the Wildcats went on a big run to build a large lead heading into the locker room.
The following story is courtesy of Northern Michigan University:
The Northern Michigan University Wildcats were led by three freshman scoring in double-digits to cruise to a 77-45 win over Finlandia in the squads home opener Wednesday at the Berry Events Center.
The Wildcats improved to 1-2 on the season.
Freshman forward Cooper Radtke came off the bench to lead NMU in scoring with 14 in the contest. He went 6-11 from the floor and was 2-2 from the free throw line. Freshman forwardAlex Sorenson had 11 for NMU on 5-12 shooting while going 1-3 from three-point range. Sorenson also had six rebounds.
Freshman guard Jordan Perez rounded out the double-digit scorers with 10 points connecting on 3-7 from the floor and 2-5 from beyond the arc.
A three pointer by Finlandia's Eric Lori gave the Lions a 19-17 lead with 7:24 left in the first half but a layup by Radtke evened the score for the Wildcats at 19-19 with 4:56. NMU continued on a 16-5 run to close out the opening frame and take a 33-24 lead at the half.
A three-pointer by Perez and a layup by Radtke as time expired capped the run for NMU.
The Wildcats outscored Finlandia 20-6 in the paint and outrebounded the Lions 26-13 in the opening frame.
NMU came out in the second half and didn't slow down, opening the second frame with a 10-1 run to stretch the lead to 43-25 when senior forward Chavis Mattison hit a jumper.
Sophomore forward Brett Branstrom sparked the run when he gave NMU its first double-digit lead when he laid the ball in just 25-seocnds into the first half. NMU held a double-digit lead the rest of the game.
The Wildcats continued to stretch their lead in the second half taking its largest lead of the game 77-44 when freshman forward Kenny Williams laid the ball in with 1:24 left in the contest.
NMU converted 19-35 shots in the second half for a 54.3% shooting percentage and were 32-70 (.457) for the game.
NMU outrebounded Finlandia 52-29 in the contest. Mattison and Williams led all players with 10 boards each in the contest. Mattison was two-points shy of a double-double finishing the game with eight points. The Wildcats also dominated scoring down low outscoring the Lions 46-10 in the paint.
The Lions shot 28.9% in the contest (13-45) including a 5-24 performance in the second half. Eric Lori led all players with 17 points for Finlandia in the contest on 5-8 shooting and was 5-7 from the free throw line and 2-4 from three point range.
NMU returns to action on Tuesday, Nov. 25 hosting Minnesota-Duluth at 7 p.m. in the Berry Events Center.
"It felt good to be at home and it felt good to get a win," said NMU head coach Bill Sall. "Tonight all our double-figure scorers were freshman, which was good to see but we need to have some of our second year guys step up and help us there as well."
"It's evolving though, we put in a new offense and have a lot of new guys, when you combine a new offense and new guys and we are struggling right now to understand what needs to happen. I believe in it, I know our guys will get there we just need to get way better at it."
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