MARQUETTE, Mich. - Thursday night at the Berry EventsCenter the NMU menâ€Ã‚™s basketball team held a four point lead at halftime(38-34).  The second half was adifferent story as the â€Ã‚˜Cats were out-scored 43-28.  In the end the â€Ã‚˜Cats dropped a 77-66 game to the visiting FerrisState Bulldogs.  FSU is now 11-14overall and 7-10 in the GLIAC.  NMUdrops to 13-12 and 9-8.

Both teams shot an identical 43.3 percent from the floor inthe first half (13-30).  At thebeginning of the second half the â€Ã‚˜Cats held the lead at 44-38 at the 16:21mark.  The Bulldogs kept it close forthe next four minutes before taking the lead at 11:28 (53-52).  The â€Ã‚˜Cats would answer with a basket byMarco Volcy for their last lead of the game at 54-53 with 11:12 left in thegame.  The â€Ã‚˜Cats had the lead cut towithin three twice in the final eight minutes of the game, but could not getany closer on the night.

Milan Azanjac and Antwuan Holt both had 18 points in theloss.  Billy Hill off the bench had 11points.  Volcy had a team-high eightrebounds. Leading the way for Ferris State was Carlton Epps with 23 points.

After being even with Ferris in the first half in shootingfrom the floor the â€Ã‚˜Cats cooled off in the second half by shooting 33.3 percent(9-27) and for the game the â€Ã‚˜Cats were 38.6 percent (22-57).  FSU shot a blazing 64 percent in the secondhalf from the floor (16-25) and ended up with a shooting percentage of 52.7 forthe game (29-55).  NMU tried 26three-point attempts on the night and made six of them (23.1 percent).  The â€Ã‚˜Cats had 10 more trips to the freethrow line than the Bulldogs on the night. NMU was 16-25 (64 percent) while FSU was 12-15 (80 percent).  The â€Ã‚˜Cats had 36 rebounds to the Bulldogs33.  On the offensive glass NMU had 13rebounds.

The â€Ã‚˜Cats have two more games left in the regular season asthey host Grand Valley on Saturday (Feb. 22) at the Berry Events Center andtravel to Green Bay on Sunday (Feb. 23) to take on UW-Green Bay.