Kuehl pours in 23 points, grabs ten rebounds
CHICAGO – The Northern Michigan men’s basketball team picked up a big victory on Monday night, edging the Roosevelt Lakers 75-68 to move into a tie for fourth place in the conference standings with two games to play.
The Wildcats never trailed in the game, but needed to put in a full 40-minute effort to get the job done against a scrappy Roosevelt squad. NMU jumped out of the gates with a 20-5 lead, including a 14-0 run, just over eight minutes into the game. That early run proved pivotal, as from there, the sides exchanged shot-for-shot and point-for-point much of the way to the final horn.
The Lakers hung around all game and made a run to close the deficit to one with five minutes to go, but Northern responded with an 11-2 run over 80 seconds to put the bow on an important road win.
Dylan Kuehl was stellar for the Wildcats, scoring 15 of his 23 points in the second half which included a one-handed slam for the final points of the game. He also pulled down 10 rebounds for his second consecutive double-double. Gerald Gittens chipped in 13 while Jackson Dudek and Brian Parzych each added a dozen. Roosevelt’s Enari Thomas led all scorers with 27.
Northern shot 26-64 (40.6%) to Roosevelt’s 24-53 (45.3%), but had its second-best advantage of the season on the glass by pulling down 17 more rebounds (43-26). That included a season-high 18 offensive rebounds that led to 20 second chance points.
NMU snapped a three-game skid with the victory and now sit at 17-9 overall and 11-7 in the GLIAC. The Wildcats are tied with Parkside, who they will see on Thursday, in a battle for fourth place and postseason home court. Both teams are one game ahead of Grand Valley and Wayne State who share a 10-8 conference mark.
How it Happened
Kuehl got things going for the Green and Gold with a hook shot. Triples from Dudek (x2) and Parzych followed to kickstart a run. That run, a 14-0 one for the Wildcats, was capped off by a Parzych and-one, powering the lead to 20-5 at 11:40 of the first half.
The Lakers went over five minutes without a point during that run, but answered with six straight. A true game of back-and-forth broke out soon after, with NMU’s lead hovering between 8-10 points for over eight minutes until the Lakers closed the gap to five with a 5-0 run in the final minute.
NMU would hold a 33-27 advantage at the break. The ‘Cats shot 13-28 (46.4%) in the opening half while Roosevelt was 10-27 (37.0%). Dudek paced Northern with 10.
A Julien Smith jumper to beat the horn early in the second half pushed the lead back to 10 for the visitors, but Roosevelt again fought back with eight of the next 11. NMU led by a dozen, 57-45, with 8:43 to go, but the Lakers again responded with a 14-3 run to make it 60-59 with 5:23 left.
That run ended when Kuehl was fouled on a deep three at the end of the shot clock. He would knock down all three at the charity stripe, and threes from Gittens and Parzych would follow as the ‘Cats pushed its lead back to double figures at 71-61 with 3:30 left.
Kuehl had the final exclamation, throwing down a fastbreak dunk with authority in the final minute that would hold to be the final points of the night.
Up Next
Tied at fourth place in the conference standings, the Wildcats will now head to the team they are in a deadlock with, taking on the Parkside Rangers in a big matchup on Thursday, February 27.
