Northern Michigan University freshman Max Weisbrod dribbles looking for an opening during a Wildcats' game earlier this season played at the Berry Events Center in Marquette. (Photo courtesy NMU)

DETROIT — Bad news turned into good news which turned bad again and finally finished as good news for the Northern Michigan University men’s basketball team on Thursday night in Detroit.

In the end, though, the Wildcats got the win they wanted with a 64-62 overtime victory over Wayne State.

The bad news happened even before the game started, as for the second straight game, leading scorer and GLIAC Preseason Player of the Year Max Bjorklund and NMU No. 2 scorer Max Brian Parzych weren’t available.

There was no indication from a game report from NMU Sports Information why the pair weren’t able to play.

Once the game started, however, NMU (12-3, 4-1 GLIAC) led almost wire to wire, trailing for the final time all night at 4-3 with 17:17 to play.

Redshirt freshman Jackson Dudek then made a layup with exactly three minutes gone to put the Wildcats ahead 5-4. While they gave up the lead several times, including at the end of regulation, NMU never fell behind again.

Northern upped its lead to 14 points twice before halftime, the first at 29-15 after Najashi Tolefree hit a jumper with 4:26 left.

Freshman Max Weisbrod had to get credit for helping build the lead as he picked up the scoring slack with Bjorklund and Parzych out.

Weisbrod finished with a game-high 26 points as no other Wildcat reached double figures, Dudek and Sam Privet getting closest with nine points apiece.

Weisbrod hit 4 of 9 on 3-pointers and 6 of 8 free throws while playing all 45 minutes, grabbing three rebounds and making two steals.

Teammate Sam Schultz had five points to go with two blocked shots and game highs of five assists and eight rebounds.

Another Wildcat, Dylan Kuehl had four blocked shots and six rebounds to go with four points.

NMU settled in with a 33-21 halftime lead and reached its zenith with a 15-point lead, 38-23, with just over 3 1/2 minutes elapsed in the second half on Schultz’s short jumper.

At that point, though, the bad news returned as the Warriors (4-7, 1-3) began whittling down their deficit, getting it to one possession at 52-49 with 2:10 left in regulation on an Antonio Marshall 3-pointer.

Northern managed just one more basket in regulation, a triple by Weisbrod with 1:40 left, while Wayne State scored six more points, the final ones on a trey by Cortez Jackson with 28 seconds remaining to tie it 55-55.

Weisbrod tried a jumper in the paint in the waning seconds and Dudek made an offensive rebound, but the Wildcats couldn’t pull out the victory in regulation.

Then just like in those first 40 minutes, NMU took control early in OT and withstood a Warriors’ comeback.

Kuehl hit a jumper 46 seconds into OT and Weisbrod made 1 of 2 free throws with 3:37 left to put Northern up 58-55.

Then with 1:12 left, WSU’s Ray Williams Jr. also made 1 of 2 free throws to tie it 60-60.

Privet then made a layup with 54 seconds left and Kuehl hit both ends of a two-shot free throw situation to give NMU a 64-60 advantage.

It proved enough as the Warriors’ Avery Lewis made a layup with 9 seconds to go to make it 64-62 and WSU’s Carmelo Harris tried what could’ve been a game-winning triple with a single tick left that bounded out.

Lewis led Wayne State scorers with 19 points, while Harris had 13 and Marshall 11.

NMU finishes this week’s three-game road trip with a GLIAC game against Saginaw Valley State in University Center between Bay City and Saginaw at 3 p.m. today.

The Wildcats’ next home game is against Michigan Tech at 1 p.m. next Saturday.

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