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Finlandia whittles down the Lumberjacks

HANCOCK — It was an exciting finish as the Finlandia University men’s basketball team (2-16) beat Northland (3-10) 88-86, Tuesday night at the Paavo Nurmi Center. The win was the first over an NCAA school since beating Crown 77-73 on Dec. 8, 2017.

Earlier in the season, the Lions beat Moody Bible 91-79 (Nov. 20) for the first win over a four-year school since Jan. 20, 2018

The first half went back-and-forth for virtually the entire way. Up 34-32, Finlandia outscored Northland 15-7 over the last four minutes to lead 49-39 at the break.

The Lumberjacks reeled off an 8-2 run to close to 51-47 with 16:30 to go in the game. Senior Danny Zuchak hit a fast break bucket to put the Lions up 70-61 at the 9:46 mark.

Northland came storming back with a 14-4 run tying the game at 74-74 with 5:07 to go. At the 1:22 mark, sophomore Ilrick Higgins-Moise cashed in his long-distance bonus. That made it 85-84, FinnU.

Tyler Tuura hit a lay-up with 1:03 left to put the Lumberjacks ahead, 86-85. Junior B.J. Williams knocked in two free throws to help Finlandia move ahead 87-86. Northland turned the ball over and junior River Shumate hit a free throw with 1.9 seconds left. The Lumberjacks shot was shot at the buzzer.

For Finlandia, freshman Rae’quan Funches scored 24 points and freshman Trace Jones had 22 points and 12 rebounds. Higgins-Moise and Williams were also in double figure scoring.

For Northland, Diego Carter had 16 points and George Butvilas scored 13 points.

Finlandia heads to Wisconsin to play Dubuque, Saturday, Jan. 8. The game is scheduled to start at 1 p.m.

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