Great Lakes Wire

The Northern Michigan University men's basketball team secured a victory over Grand Valley State Lakers with a score of 85-72, advancing to the GLIAC Semifinals. The Wildcats will face Michigan Tech on Saturday, March 8 at noon.

During the first half, Northern Michigan established a strong defensive presence, limiting Grand Valley to 23 points and shooting 25% from the field. In contrast, the Wildcats shot 59.3%, building a substantial halftime lead of 40-23.

Jackson Dudek led Northern's scoring with 17 points on an efficient 77.8% shooting performance. Brian Parzych contributed significantly with 14 points, including four three-pointers, five assists, three rebounds, two steals, and a block. Julien Smith added 13 points while Sam Privet and Gerald Gittens each scored 11.

For Grand Valley State, Kaden Brown was the top scorer with 23 points and William Dunn grabbed ten rebounds.

Overall, Northern Michigan shot their best percentage of the season at 58.8% from the field and tied their season-best for three-point shooting at 48.1%. However, they struggled at the free throw line with only a 41.4% success rate. Grand Valley shot nearly 40% from both field goals and beyond the arc.

This win marks Northern's third consecutive season reaching twenty victories for the first time in program history.

Following this victory and other home team wins on Wednesday night, Northern will travel to Michigan Tech for their semifinal game against the Huskies on March 8 at noon. The subsequent game will feature Lake Superior State against Ferris State.

Northern started strong in their matchup against Grand Valley as Privet hit an early three-pointer leading to a quick six-point advantage within minutes of play. Contributions from Cal Klesmit and Parzych extended NMU's lead further during the first half.

Dudek maintained his perfect shooting streak through much of the game while Parzych’s late-game heroics helped secure Northern’s victory despite attempts by GVSU to close in on their lead.

As all four home teams won their respective games leading up to this point; attention now turns towards Saturday’s semifinals where winners will advance into Sunday’s championship contest following these pivotal matchups between top-ranked conference teams like Michigan Tech versus Northern along with Lake Superior State taking on Ferris State later that day.