Ferris State spoils Senior Day; Wildcats drop to fifth place
MARQUETTE, Mich. – The Northern Michigan men’s basketball team suffered its second straight nail biting loss, dropping a 91-84 decision to No. 20 Ferris State on Saturday afternoon in Vandament Arena.
In a game that struggled to find consistent rhythm with 43 fouls called, the Green and Gold battled with six ties and six lead changes throughout the contest, but a 11-0 second half run from Ferris State proved to be the difference. The Bulldogs also got to the line 21 times in the second half off of 13 NMU fouls, converting on 19 of those. NMU was 7-7 from the charity stripe in the second.
Each team’s leading scorer shined in a high-stakes affair, with Dylan Kuehl scoring a career-high 31 points on 10-16 from the floor. He scored 21 of his 31 in the final 20 minutes. FSU’s Ethan Erickson also poured in 31.
Gerald Gittens Jr. also came through on his senior night with childhood friend and current Golden State Warrior Brandin Podziemski in attendance. He scored a season-best 21 points on 7-12 shooting to go along with a game-high five assists.
The Bulldogs held their largest lead at 33-19 in the first half, but NMU chipped away and cut it to a 45-38 deficit at the break.
Out of halftime, the Wildcats opened with a sudden 16 points in just over three minutes of work. Triples from Julien Smith, Sam Privet, and Dylan Kuehl, along with a soft touch at the rim from Jackson Dudek tied the score at 51-51. Another three from Kuehl followed and after trailing at the half, NMU jumped ahead 54-51 just 3:21 into second half action.
The Wildcats continued to push and grabbed its largest lead, 61-56, with 12:37 to go. Shortly after leading 68-64 with nine minutes left, the Bulldogs responded with an 11-0 run over a four-minute stretch to grab a 75-68 lead with five minutes to go. A Gittens Jr. three with 3:25 remaining got NMU back within one at 77-76, but FSU scored the next five and iced the game away with successful trips to the charity stripe.
With the loss, Northern has now dropped to 5th place in the conference at 10-6 and is in a battle to achieve home court for the postseason quarterfinals.
Up Next
The Wildcats will head to Houghton on Thursday, February 20, to take on GLIAC-leading Michigan Tech.
