Fans were treated to an extra five min­utes of Bulldog bas­ket­ball as the Ferris State University men’s bas­ket­ball team defeated Northwood University 74–69 in over­time Saturday after­noon at Jim Wink Arena.

The con­fer­ence win moved the Bulldogs into a share of first place in the divi­sional stand­ings. FSU improved to 9–6 over­all and 6–2 in GLIAC action this campaign.

The con­test fea­tured three lead changes and the score was tied four times. One of the ties came at the end of reg­u­la­tion play when NU’s Cameron Joyce drove the length of the court and banked a shot in to force the game into overtime.

“We knew that in over­time we would have less room for errors,” FSU junior for­ward Daniel Sutherlin said. “We had to cut down on turnovers and play a crisp game to get the win.”

Sutherlin took con­trol for FSU dur­ing the five-minute over­time period. After the Timberwolves cut FSU’s lead to just two points, Sutherlin slammed home a missed layup from junior guard Kenny Brown. With less than 15 sec­onds to play, Sutherlin com­pleted a three-point play to push the Bulldogs’ lead to six points. FSU held on for the win as the clock ticked down and NU could not get closer than three points.

“We trust each other a lot more [than in the begin­ning of the sea­son], and we’ve really built some team chem­istry,” Sutherlin said. “Even though it’s still early in the sea­son, we’ve faced adver­sity and it’s made us a stronger team overall.”

Leading the Bulldogs was Brown with a game-high 25 points. Sutherlin con­tributed 17 points and nine rebounds in the win­ning effort. Senior for­ward Jerrell Sanders totaled 15 points, seven rebounds, four assists, and two steals while senior guard Dontae Molden added 11 points and six rebounds.

The vic­tory was FSU’s ninth in its last 12 con­tests. The Timberwolves fell to 8–6 over­all and 4–4 in con­fer­ence play. The Bulldog defense held NU’s lead­ing scorer senior for­ward Bobby Lewis to just 5 points in 36 min­utes of play. Prior to the con­test, Lewis was aver­ag­ing 16.3 points per game.

“It [defend­ing Lewis] was def­i­nitely one of the main points of focus in the week’s prac­tices,” Sutherlin said. “Jerrell [Sanders] did a really good job focus­ing in and not let­ting him get what he wanted.”

Next on the sched­ule for FSU is a road trip to the Upper Peninsula to take on Michigan Tech Jan. 19 and Northern Michigan Jan. 21. Thursday’s game against the Huskies will deter­mine sole pos­ses­sion of first place in the GLIAC North Division stand­ings. The two teams faced off Dec. 18, and MTU came away with a 77–64 victory.

“This is a huge game,” Sutherlin said. “Every game from here on out is a huge game, but this one is espe­cially because it is for first place.”

MTU is 8–7 over­all and 6–2 in con­fer­ence play. The Huskies were recently defeated by Saginaw Valley 77–71 in an upset win for the Cardinals. MTU is led by junior for­ward Ali Haidar who is aver­ag­ing 19 points per game this sea­son. Haidar scored a career-high 36 points against SVSU.

“We’re going to need to make some­body else [aside from Haidar] beat us,” Sutherlin said.