Five players in double figures in win over Rangers
KENOSHA, Wis. – The Northern Michigan men’s basketball team commanded play in the first half and held strong down the stretch in the second half to pick up a big 83-70 road victory at Parkside on Thursday night.
The Wildcats opened the game with one of its strongest halves of the season, outscoring the Rangers 43-27. It was a healthy balance of offense and defense, with NMU shooting 17-29 (58.6%) from the field and 6-10 (60.0%) from beyond the arc while holding UWP to 11-34 (32.4%) and just 4-19 (21.1%) from three.
For the game, Northern had its best shooting performance of the season by going 28-50 (56.0%). The ‘Cats also had its second-best shooting percentage from beyond the arc, converting on 8-17 (47.1%).
It was a collective effort for the Green and Gold with five scoring in double figures. The starting frontcourt combined for 51 points, with Jackson Dudek and Dylan Kuehl co-leading the way with 17 and Sam Privet adding 14. Gerald Gittens also scored 14 while Brian Parzych chipped in another 12 to lead the bench unit that outscored the Ranger reserves 21-4.
Parkside’s Jack Rose led all scorers with a career-high 33 points, shooting 12-23 from the field and 6-12 from three.
Each side pulled down 32 rebounds and Northern held a 12-8 assists advantage on the night. All nine ‘Cats recorded a rebound with Kuehl leading the way on the glass with seven. Five Wildcats had two assists.
The victory marks the fifth straight for NMU over the Rangers.
Holding a 12-7 conference record, Northern is currently the fourth seed and is now in the driver’s seat to host a GLIAC tournament quarterfinals game, with a win over Purdue Northwest on Saturday clinching home court. Grand Valley State, Wayne State, and Parkside all hold an 11-8 record in the 5-7 slots.
How it Happened
The Rangers scored the first five points of the night and led 8-2 just over two minutes in. From there, the Wildcats settled in, breaking out on an extended 21-4 over seven minutes that included 11 straight to lead by 23-12 with 11 minutes left in the first half. That would be the only lead change or tie of the game.
Kuehl connected on two threes and Parzych added another during the run that included Northern making nine shots in a ten-shot span.
The Wildcats went on five runs of 5-0 or greater in the first half. One of those closed out the half, a 7-0 stretch, to lead 43-27 at the break. Dudek had a three and a layup on that run to put him at 11 points on a perfect 5-5 shooting. Northern shot 17-29 (58.6%) from the field and 6-10 (60.0%) from three.
A quick layup from Gittens followed by a three from Dudek gave the visitors the largest lead they would hold all night at 48-27.
The Wildcats maintained a 20-point cushion until Parkside put together its largest run of the night (10-0) to close the gap to 57-46 at 10:44.
A barrage of fouls and free throws on each side followed, with the Wildcats scoring eight straight points at the charity stripe in less than two minutes.
The Rangers were able to briefly cut its deficit to less than 10 with two minutes to play, but Parzych hit an elbow jumper late in the shot clock to put the final nail in the coffin.
Up Next
The Wildcats close out the regular season at Purdue Northwest on Saturday, March 1 at 4 p.m. ET. With a win, Northern will return to Vandament Arena for the GLIAC Quarterfinals on Wednesday, March 5.
