Northern Michigan University’s Dylan Kuehl, left, gets above the activity near the hoop with this dunk during the first half in a game against Northwood at the PEIF Gym in Marquette on Dec. 19. (Photo courtesy Cara Kamps)

GRAND RAPIDS — On this night, it was Max Weisbrod’s turn to shine for the Northern Michigan University men’s team on the basketball court.

With all five starters having scoring averages in double figures, it’s been interesting to see who would assume the scoring load — if it was to be any one single player — for each game by NMU this season.

On this night, Weisbrod bombed in six 3-pointers in 11 attempts, making 10 of 16 overall from the field and both his free throws to score a game-high 28 points. He also found time to dish out a game-high seven assists and pull down three rebounds while committing just one turnover in 33 minutes court time.

That allowed the Wildcats to run off with an 81-63 victory at Davenport and remain atop the GLIAC alone at 3-0 while extending their win streak to six games.

Led by the sophomore, NMU (10-5 overall) shot significantly better than their hosts — 57% (31 of 54) to 46% (21 of 46) — while holding big advantages in rebounds, 32-21, and assists, 22-9.

Two other Northern starters, Dylan Kuehl and Carson Smith, added 15 points apiece as Kuehl also contributed seven rebounds, six assists, two steals and even two blocked shots. Smith made a trio of triples in six attempts while grabbing four rebounds.

Teammate Sam Schultz was below his scoring average with six points, but he yanked away a game-high 11 rebounds as he sank all three shots from the floor he attempted.

Myle Belyeu paced the Panthers (4-8, 0-2 GLIAC) with 13 points as their top scorer, Marcedus Leech Jr., managed just nine points on 3-of-11 shooting.

While Northern led from the opening bucket and held a double-digit lead through almost all of the second half, Davenport brought it back to a one-possession game multiple times in the opening 20 minutes.

The Wildcats threatened to make it a laugher early, racing to a 9-2 lead after Weisbrod made a pair of layups and a 3 in the first 2 1/2 minutes and Brian Parzych sank two free throws just after that.

But DU got it back to one possession at 10-7 on a Matas Deksnys triple about a minute later. Though Northern rebuilt a lead nearing double digits after that, the Panthers pulled back within 21-20 with 6:56 left in the opening half on a “traditional” three-point play by Jeff Carrier.

Later it was 28-27 before Northern rattled off a first half-ending 10-2 run that made it 38-29 at intermission. That late spurt included a pair of Weisbrod 3s, a Smith layup and Schultz fastbreak jumper.

As Northern led 47-37 with 4 1/2 minutes elapsed in the second half, the Wildcats opened up another 16-6 run to go ahead by 20, 63-43, with 9:46 to go. Kuehl made four baskets in the stretch as DU never got closer than 16 points the rest of the way.

NMU makes the short trip west to Allendale to face Grand Valley State at 3 p.m. today. GVSU is the only other undefeated GLIAC team at 2-0, though the Lakers are only 5-7 overall.

The game will feature a matchup of the league’s top two rebounders, No. 1 Schultz, who averages 10.5 per game, and GVSU graduate student and Marquette Senior High School graduate Marius Grazulis, who checks in at 9.4 as no other GLIAC player even averages seven per game.

Grazulis also leads the Lakers in scoring at 12.4 points per game as the 6-foot-11 forward also has nine blocked shots in 10 games. However, he has missed Grand Valley’s past two games, though his absence hasn’t been mentioned in recent GVSU sports news releases.

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