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Senior Jordan Perez nets 1,000th collegiate point in Northern Michigan University men’s basketball offensive outburst

Jordan Perez

GRAND RAPIDS — Senior Jordan Perez scored his 1,000th collegiate point and was one of five Northern Michigan University players to score in double figures as the Wildcat men outscored Davenport 91-80 on Monday afternoon.

The game was a makeup for Thursday’s game in Grand Rapids that was postponed due to a suspected norovirus outbreak on the downstate school’s main campus. The campus was closed and athletic events postponed from Thursday through Sunday, which also took down the Michigan Tech game there on Saturday.

Due to the MTU-Davenport makeup to be played Thursday in Sault Ste. Marie, the Tech-Northern game scheduled for Saturday in Houghton has been pushed back to 3 p.m. Sunday.

On Monday, junior Isaiah Johnson led NMU scorers with 21 points, including four 3-pointers, as Northern (11-7, 8-3) recorded its highest point total of the season. Johnson also pulled down a team-high six rebounds.

Junior teammate Naba Echols scored 18 points and joined Johnson with a team-high four assists.

Isaiah Johnson

Perez chipped in with 13 points while sophomores Will Carius and Marcus Matelski had 10 each.

The Panthers’ Delano Smith led all scorers with 23 points.

The teams traded the lead several times in the early going before a Matelski triple with 14:24 left in the first half gave Northern a 13-11 lead it wouldn’t relinquish again.

The Wildcats bumped the lead to 11 points, 34-23, on a pair of Echols free throws with 5:01 left in the half, but Davenport (9-9, 3-7) whittled it to three points before NMU re-established a 40-33 halftime advantage.

The Panthers quickly cut its deficit to one point, 42-41, with about 2 1/2 minutes gone in the second half, and later cut it to two, 55-53, with 11:07 left.

But Northern never let Davenport get the tying or go-ahead bucket and after the latter scare, went on a 11-2 run to get it back to a more comfortable 66-55 margin on a Perez triple with 8:48 to go.

The Panthers never got closer than six points the rest of the way.

The Wildcats were efficient with the ball, committing just seven turnovers while shooting 47 percent (23 of 49) from the field and 81 percent (33 of 41) at the free-throw line.

Information compiled by Journal Sports Editor Steve Brownlee. His email address is sbrownlee@miningjournal.net.

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