The Wildcats fell at home 82-77 to Grand Valley State as Marquette Senior High School graduate Marius Grazulis led the Lakers with a game-high 11 rebounds to go with 14 points.

Despite the loss, NMU (14-4 overall) still has a share of the GLIAC lead at 6-2, which is the same record as Wisconsin-Parkside and Lake Superior State. Ferris State is a game back at 5-3.

GVSU (10-8 overall) climbed back into the conference race at 4-4, tied with Saginaw Valley State and Wayne State.

League-leading scorer Max Bjorklund added 13 points for the Wildcats as he went just 4 of 15 from the field, including 2 of 8 on 3-pointers. He also fouled out but did make four rebounds.

Kuehl led NMU rebounders with six while adding three assists.

The big setup man, though, was Northern freshman Max Weisbrod, who scored eight points as he made 10 of his team’s 17 assists while also grabbing five rebounds.

GV’s leading scorer was Daniel Kiely with 15 points as he made 7 of 9 shots and also two steals. Teammate Chinedu Kingsley Okanu put in 12 points.

A game that went back and forth ended with the Lakers getting the final high note.

In the beginning, though, Northern jumped out to an 8-4 lead after a pair of free throws by Kuehl with 14:22 left in the first half.

The Lakers worked it back to 18-18 and 21-21 ties near the midway point of the half, then used a 12-0 run to go up 32-21 with 5:55 left before halftime on a Jalen Charity layup.

Then just as quickly, NMU melted its deficit to three, 32-29, with an 8-0 run capped by a Weisbrod 3 with 4:42 to go.

By halftime, GVSU held a 42-36 advantage. The Lakers bumped it to eight multiple times early in the second half before a big NMU comeback not only erased the deficit, but opened up a nice lead for the Wildcats.

Northern outscored GV 20-3 in less than 5 1/2 minutes to turn a 52-44 deficit into a 64-55 lead with 10:43 remaining.

Again, though, another big run turned the tide of the game. GVSU held Northern without a point for more than four minutes while scoring 12 itself to make it 67-64 Lakers with 7:11 to go.

Down the stretch, neither team had more than a one-possession lead until the game’s final 10 seconds, when the Lakers hit several free throws, including one by Grazulis with three seconds left, for the final margin.

The Wildcats get a chance for redemption at home today when they host 2-6 Davenport at 1 p.m.

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