TEN IN A ROW: 'Cats Rally Past Purdue NW, 82-78

This story was written by NMU Sports Information

HAMMOND, Ind. - Trailing by four with just over 10 minutes left, the Northern Michigan men's basketball team went on a 20-4 run over a six-minute window and held on down the stretch for a 82-78 win at Purdue Northwest, pushing its winning streak to ten games. 

 

The guards led the way for the Green and Gold, as Brian Parzych scored 24 and Max Weisbrod added 23. The two combined to shoot 15-26 (57.7%) with 27 of their 47 points coming in the second half to help create separation. Dylan Kuehl had the helping hand with six assists while also leading the way on the glass with nine rebounds. 

 

The teams shot eerily similar, as Northern was 30-60 (50.0%) to PNW's 31-61 (50.8%). NMU attacked the offensive glass throughout the night, notching five more offensive rebounds (11-6) which led to a 15-8 advantage in second chance points. 

 

With its tenth straight win, the Wildcats now sit at 7-0 in the GLIAC and 14-5 overall. No other team in the GLIAC has more than four wins as of Thursday night.

After a slow start in the first handful of minutes with neither team being able to develop rhythm on the offensive end, the game picked up out of the first media timeout. A quick five points briefly gave NMU a lead, but the Pride countered. They led by the slimmest of margins, 17-16, halfway through the first half. 

 

It seemed to be consistent back-and-forth in the opening 20 minutes. Just when one team went up by four or five points, the other quickly erased it and swiped the lead for themselves. NMU went on a 9-1 run late in the half to go ahead 34-27, but the Pride scored the next seven to even the score. With six seconds left, Max Weisbrod got his defender in the air, earning three free throws and getting each of them to take a 37-34 lead into intermission. 

 

The tightly contested action extended into the second half. NMU trailed 54-50 with 10:49 to go and that's when they made their move. The 'Cats went on a 20-4 run over the next six minutes, led by eight points from Brian Parzych, to go ahead by a dozen.

 

With 1:30 left, the 'Cats maintained an 11-point lead. The Pride did not go down without a fight, closing their deficit to four with 49 seconds still to go. NMU did what they needed to do, making its next five free throws to hold on for an exciting 82-78 road victory.

The Wildcats will head to Kenosha, Wisconsin to take on reigning GLIAC regular season champions in Parkside on Saturday, January 20 at 4 p.m. ET.