Lions’ men drop two on the court
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HANCOCK -- The Finlandia University men's basketball team had a tough weekend at home. The Lions lost to North Central (Minn.), 82-65, on Friday night and to Northwestern-St. Paul (Minn.), 117-72, on Saturday night. With the losses the Lions fall to 2-7 on the year.
"Friday night was our best showing," said Lions coach Allen Dehority. "We had the lead for much of the game but could not put a complete game together. We didn't capitalize on opportunities when we needed to."
Saturday was a different story. The Eagles of UNW controlled and led the tempo of play all 40 minutes. The Lions were clearly outmatched.
"Northwestern are perennial top winners in their conference, and they showed that tonight," said Dehority. "We had some guys out with sickness, and that hurt us, but I could tell we were just gassed from the previous night."
The Eagles shot their way to a 20-12 lead at the 14:45 mark of the first half and just kept soaring. They posted an impressive 54% from the field and an even more impressive 57% from three-point range at 16-28 in triples.
Meanwhile the Lions shot just 35% from the field and were 12-of-33 or 36% from three-point range.
Size and athleticism were another mismatch in this one and it manifested itself under the basket and off the glass. The Eagles pulled in 59 rebounds as compared to Lions who grabbed just 29.
"We were outclassed defensively," said Dehority. "We cannot allow teams three and four attempts at the net. We need to work on defensive communication going forward."
It was 62-38 at the half. With eight minutes left on the clock, the Eagles cross the 100-point mark in route to a victory.
The Eagles had four players in double-digit scoring. Henry Fahnbulleh led the scoring with 23 points and nine rebounds. Kyle Kaemingk had a double-double with 12 points and 10 rebounds.
The Finlandia scoring was led by Devin Schieble who suck three triples and topped out at 15 points. He was followed by Noah Prestia who sunk 12 points.
Up next
Finlandia remains home to take on Wisconsin-Superior on Tuesday, Dec. 6, at the Paavo Nurmi Center. Tipoff is set for 7 p.m.