The first of six games in a row at home has a tipoff of 7:45 p.m. at the Berry Events Center. The Wildcats also host Lake Superior State at 3:15 p.m. Saturday in their GLIAC weekend.

Then they host nonconference foes Indianapolis on Dec. 19 and U.P. rival Finlandia on Jan. 2 before playing two more GLIAC home games the first week of January.

During Saturday’s game, the NMU’s men’s and women’s teams are collecting new, unopened and unwrapped toys to donate to the U.S. Marines’ Toys for Tots campaign to donate to the local Salvation Army and stay in the community for the holidays. A table will be set up by the Berry front entrance for the collection.

Northern is coming off a painful 77-76 loss at Michigan Tech in Houghton on Monday night. Tre Harvey made a buzzer-beating 3-pointer but it still left the Wildcats a point short after they trailed by 10 points, 74-64, with barely more than a minute to go.

Northern Michigan University senior guard Max Bjorklund follows through on a shot during a game against St. Cloud State played Nov. 27 at the Berry Events Center in Marquette. (Photo courtesy NMU)

John Kerr led NMU with 17 points, including a pair of 3-pointers in the late comeback, and added six rebounds, while Harvey finished with 15 points that included four triples.

Senior Max Bjorklund leads the team in scoring at 16.4 points per game, while Kerr bumped his average to exactly 10 after Monday’s output.

Ben Wolf is the Wildcats’ leading rebounder, averaging 5.6 per game as Kerr is close at 5.4. Brian Parzych leads the team in assists and Bjorklund is the leader in steals and Wolf and Justin Kuehl lead in blocked shots.

Most recently, NMU lost to Ferris 67-45 and defeated LSSU 91-70, both games in January.

Fans can follow the team @NMU_Wildcats on Twitter.

The games will be broadcast on radio station WUPT 100.3 FM The Point, video will be available at nmuwildcats.com/watch/?Live=4&type=Live and live statistics for each game at nmuwildcats.com/sidearmstats/mbball/summary.

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