Great Lakes Wire

The Northern Michigan men's basketball team faced a challenging match against Lake Superior State, ranked 14th nationally, on Saturday evening. The Wildcats were defeated with a final score of 79-49 in Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan.

Throughout the game, Northern Michigan struggled to find their rhythm, shooting only 18-56 (32.1%) from the field. In contrast, Lake Superior State shot 26-55 (47.3%). A significant factor in the Lakers' victory was their success from beyond the arc, where they made 15 out of 30 attempts (50.0%), while the Wildcats managed just 4 out of 25 (16.0%).

Sam Privet was Northern Michigan's top scorer with 13 points, followed by Dylan Kuehl who contributed 10 points. Lake Superior State had a more distributed scoring effort with Tyson Edmondson leading the team with 23 points among twelve different scorers.

The game began with an early advantage for the Lakers as they initiated an 8-0 run. Although Cal Klesmit narrowed the gap to one point at 14-13 with a three-pointer for NMU, Lake Superior State responded strongly with an impressive 18-0 run over nearly six minutes, hitting four three-pointers and establishing a commanding lead of 35-16 late in the first half.

At halftime, NMU trailed by eighteen points at 45-27 after managing to score eight of the last eleven points before the break. The Lakers had excelled in three-point shooting during this period, going nine for sixteen (56.3%).

In the second half, Lake Superior State extended their lead further through a decisive 20-5 scoring run, peaking at a lead of thirty-five points at 73-38. This deficit proved insurmountable for Northern Michigan.

With this loss, Northern Michigan's record stands at twelve wins and six losses overall and six wins and four losses in conference play within the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC). Meanwhile, Lake Superior State improved to seventeen wins and three losses overall and eight wins and two losses in league play.

Looking ahead, Northern Michigan will return home to face Grand Valley State on Thursday, January 30th at 7:30 p.m.