MARQUETTE, Mich. – Junior forward Justin Newell scored 27 points to lead the Northern Michigan University men's basketball team to their first Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletics Conference win of the season 72-57 over Tiffin Thursday at the Berry Events Center.

The win pushes the Wildcats to 2-7 on the season with a 1-4 GLIAC record. The loss drops the Dragons to 5-5 with a 1-4 conference mark.

Newell led three Wildcats in double-digit scoring. Sophomore guard Terry Nash and freshman guard Marcus Hall had 10 points each. Senior forward Michael Smith came off the bench to lead NMU with seven rebounds.

"Well it always feels good to win," said NMU head coach Bill Sall. "I was excited tonight but our guys played really hard. I thought the effort was outstanding. Overall we did a good job of buying in and playing with a lot of effort. I am happy for our guys because when you work that hard you want to be rewarded."

NMU scored 18 points off of 18 Tiffin turnovers and shot 36 percent from the floor (18-50) including going 7-16 from three-point range. NMU also sunk 29-38 free throws (76.3) including going 20-27 in the second half. The Wildcats outrebounded Tiffin 41-39 but got outscored in the paint 26-12 by the Dragons.

Newell hit a three-pointer with 25-seconds remaining in the game to give NMU its largest lead of the contest, 72-54 before Kameron Wright hit a three with 17-seconds remaining to set the final tally.

Northern Michigan took a 30-25 lead at the break and led by as many as eight in the first half.

Newell led the Wildcats with nine first-half points while Hall had eight at the break. NMU went 9-11 (81.8) from the free throw line in the first half and were edged on the boards 23-22 by Tiffin.

Tiffin cut the NMU lead to two when Korab Imami hit a jumper at the 2:41 mark of the second half. NMU went on an 11-2 run a few minutes later to take a 13-point lead, 51-38 when Newell hit a three with 8:12 left to go in the game.

Joe Graessle led the Dragons with 22 points and was the only double-digit scorer for Tiffin.

Northern Michigan returns to action at 3 p.m. Saturday when they host Ohio Dominican at the Berry Events Center.