Smith, Kuehl 16 points each for Wildcats
DULUTH, Minn. – Facing one of the top teams in the nation, the Northern Michigan men’s basketball team battled and hung tight with the No. 3 Minnesota State-Moorhead Dragons, but couldn’t quite get over the hump as Northern suffered its first loss of the season, 82-71 at the St. Louis County Basketball Classic.
The Wildcats were able to keep the game within single digits for much of the night and held a brief lead in the first half and had the score tied four times, but each time the Green and Gold closed the gap, the Dragons answered and never let NMU regain control and play with a lead.
The Dragons shot an efficient 30-53 (56.6%) from the floor while Northern was just 25-62 (40.3%), but the paint was the name of the game as the size of Moorhead was too much for the ‘Cats to handle. The Dragons led in rebounds 39-24 and points in the paint 40-32, including a 26-10 advantage in the first half.
A balanced attack continued to be the calling card for Northern, with Julien Smith and Dylan Kuehl co-leading the scoring with 16 points apiece. Sam Privet and Gerald Gittens Jr. each contributed a dozen. Moorhead’s Logan Kinsey scored 22 to lead all scorers while Jacob Beeninga chipped in another 21.
The offenses started hot on Friday evening in Duluth, with a Biggie Luster to Jackson Dudek connection giving the ‘Cats its first lead of the night at 13-12 not even five minutes in. From there, the Dragons broke out on a 9-0 run and made 10 of its first 14 shots from the floor. NMU answered with its longest stretch of the night, a 10-0 spurt, with a tomahawk slam from Kuehl to lead 25-24 at 8:57, the last lead they’d hold on the night.
Two more runs of 5-0 and 6-0 from MSUM in the first half would give them the lead at the break, 46-38, shooting 19-28 (67.9%) in the opening 20 minutes. Northern was 11-24 (45.8%), but an efficient 12-13 (92.3%) at the free throw line.
Coming out of halftime, a pair of and-ones from Brian Parych under the hoop and from Smith beyond the arc closed the gap to 51-45 with 17:51 to play. Soon after, the ‘Cats went on a 7-0 run to make it a one-score game (54-52) at 14:22, the closest they could trim the deficit.
Moorhead answered the NMU run with five straight of its own and went on another 7-0 stretch to push its lead back to double digits at 70-60 with just 6:05 to play.
Northern continued to battle and had the score at 77-71 with 1:34 left, but the No. 3 ranked Dragons proved its ranking, hitting 10-12 from the charity stripe in the second half to get the victory.
Up Next
The Wildcats will take on another one of the nation’s best, clashing with Minnesota Duluth on its home floor on Saturday, November 23 at 5 p.m. ET.
