Marcus Matelski

DULUTH, Minn. — The Northern Michigan University men’s basketball team fell into an offensive funk early in the second half in an 84-62 loss at Minnesota-Duluth on Friday.

NMU (1-2) trailed just 38-35 when Ben Wolf sank a layup with 17:05 left, but the Wildcats didn’t score again for about 3 1/2 minutes as the Bulldogs (2-1) went on a 14-0 run.

A few minutes later, Northern’s deficit was at 20 points.

Senior Marcus Matelski led Wildcats’ scorers with 12 points, all on 3-pointers, as he also dished out three assists. Redshirt freshman teammate Ben Wolf added 11 points, two rebounds and an assist.

Junior Alec Fruin scored nine points while sophomore Troy Summers pulled down a team-high seven rebounds to go with six points.

Duluth’s Alex Illikainen led all scorers with 24 points, which included three 3-pointers.

The Wildcats held a 34-27 rebounding advantage, but the Bulldogs had half as many turnovers, 14 to 7, while making eight steals to Northern’s one.

Though its lead was never more than five points, NMU was ahead for much of the first half before settling for a 31-31 halftime tie.

The Wildcats remain in Duluth overnight to play Southwest Minnesota State there at 4 p.m. today, their last action before Thanksgiving.

Information compiled by Journal Sports Editor Steve Brownlee. His email address is sbrownlee@miningjournal.net.