Northern Michigan University's Justin Kuehl, left, shoots a 3-pointer over St. Cloud State's Luke Taylor about five minutes into their game played on Nov. 27 at the Berry Events Center in Marquette. (Photo courtesy NMU)

UNIVERSITY CENTER — Nick Wagner’s 3-point try bounced away without falling in at the buzzer as the Northern Michigan University men’s basketball team lost 87-85 at Saginaw Valley State on Thursday evening.

Seventeen seconds earlier, the Cardinals’ Delano Smith sank a pair of free throws to break an 85-85 tie. And with 41 seconds to go, Wagner pulled the visiting Wildcats into the tie when he hit a 3-pointer.

Wagner’s late triple was Northern’s 17th of the game, one off the NMU record. Northern made nearly 50 percent on the long-range shots, 47 percent to be exact, as the Wildcats were good on 17 of 36.

NMU’s two-game GLIAC winning streak was snapped as the Wildcats slipped to 6-8 overall and 2-5 in the league. SVSU improved to 9-5 and 3-3.

Wagner and teammate Carson Smith each made 5 of 8 triple attempts as Smith scored 17 points and Wagner 15.

Teammate John Kerr shared team scoring honors, also with 17 points including two 3s, as he pulled down a game-high eight rebounds and dished out three assists.

Northern’s Justin Kuehl hit a pair of 3s and scored 14 points while also grabbing six rebounds and making two assists.

Smith also had three assists, while Wagner had two.

NMU freshman Brian Parzych scored seven points with a pair of 3s as he had a game-high six assists while pulling in seven rebounds.

Darnell Hoskins Jr. and Delano Smith paced the Cardinals with 23 points apiece as Hoskins hit 3 triples.

While both teams shot similarly overall and were close in rebounds, the Wildcats had a big advantage in 3-pointers as SVSU was only 6 of 20 (30 percent).

But the Cardinals made up for it at the free throw line, sinking 21 of 22 (96 percent) to just 8 of 14 (57 percent) for NMU.

Northern led the entire way until the final 90 seconds, building its biggest lead of 18 points, 40-22, when NMU’s Jack Rusch hit a 3-pointer with 4:56 left in the first half.

But SVSU finished the half with a 9-0 run that cut the Wildcats’ advantage to 45-37 at halftime. The Cardinals kept their deficit in single digits for most of the second half, too, though NMU bumped its advantage back to 11 at 75-64 with 5:36 to go when Smith hit a triple.

The Cards immediately went on an 8-0 run to cut it to 75-72 with 3:52 remaining, catching Northern for the first time all night at 82-82 when SVSU’s Tre Garrett hit a fast-break layup with 1:30 left.

That set up Wagner and Saginaw’s Smith for their late-game drama.

While Thursday’s NMU-SVSU women’s game was postponed due to health and safety concerns, the Wildcats are still scheduled to finish off this road trip with their usual doubleheader this afternoon in Detroit. The Northern women face Wayne State at 1 p.m. while the men’s game is set for 3 p.m.

Next week, the Wildcats open a four-game homestand with Thursday games vs. Davenport. The women’s game is set for 5:30 p.m. and men’s at 7:45 p.m.

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