Ferris State Rallies Back For Dramatic Overtime Win Over Northern Michigan In First-Place Battle

Postgame Highlights & Interview 

Big Rapids, Mich. - The Ferris State University men's basketball squad fought to the finish on Saturday (Jan. 28), overcoming a 14-point deficit to force overtime before pulling out a dramatic 106-93 win over visiting Northern Michigan in a battle for first-place in the GLIAC at Jim Wink Arena.

The Bulldogs and Wildcats, who were both midst a four-way tie for first entering the game, put on a show for the fans in attendance. NMU built a 48-34 halftime lead and held off several second-half Bulldog runs to maintain the lead before the Bulldogs finally got over the hump and knotted the game up on Solomon Oraegbu's bucket on a foul with less than two seconds left to play. It came on the heels of a NMU turnover in the closing seconds.

While Oraegbu could not connect on the free throw to potentially win the game in regulation, he came up big in overtime and helped the Bulldogs outscore NMU 18-5 to earn the win. Oraegbu finished 13-of-14 at the free throw line and tallied a team-high 27 points in the win as FSU improved to 17-5 overall and 8-3 in the GLIAC.

The Bulldogs finished with six players in double-figures as Oraegbu was joined in double-digits by sophomore Ethan Erickson with 15 points. Both Dolapo Olayinka and Ben Davidson scored 13 points apiece while Amari Lee netted 12 points and Mykel Bingham produced 11 points.

Bingham finished with a double-double by adding a game-high 12 rebounds and Lee also had a double-double effort with a game-high 12 assists for the Bulldogs. Vejas Grazulis added nine points off the bench in the balanced effort.

Ferris State needed big performances to help offset the Wildcats' attack, which was led by standout Max Bjorklund, who came up with a game-high 29 points along with eight rebounds and seven assists. Max Weisbrod added 21 points and Dylan Kuehl finished with 19 points and 10 boards.

The Bulldogs shot 45% overall and went only four-of-19 (21.1%) from long range, but did connect on 30-of-36 (83.3%) free throws in the overtime affair. NMU shot 45.1% from the floor and went 11-of-22 (50%) from deep in addition to 18-of-27 (66.7%) at the line.

Overall, the Wildcats held a slim 48-45 rebounding effort, but finished with 15 turnovers compared to only three for the Bulldogs. FSU outscored the Wildcats 22-6 in points off turnovers, coming up with eight steals in addition to four blocked shots. FSU also held a 22-14 edge in fast break scoring and tallied 58 points inside the paint to 34 for Northern Michigan.

The game was back-and-forth early, featuring a total of 11 lead changes while being scored seven times.

With the win, Ferris State holds onto a share of first-place along with Parkside heading into yet another first-place showdown on Thursday (Feb. 2) night on the road in Kenosha, Wis. FSU will then visit Purdue Northwest on Saturday (Feb. 4) to cap the road swing.