Northern Michigan University’s Max Weisbrod celebrates the Wildcats’ victory after a GLIAC Tournament quarterfinal men’s basketball game played against Purdue Northwest at the Berry Events Center in Marquette on Wednesday. (Photo courtesy Cara Kamps)

MARQUETTE — The Northern Michigan University men’s basketball team gave up a double-digit lead late in the first half, then recaptured it for good near the midpoint of the second half to cruise to a 71-63 victory over Purdue Northwest in a GLIAC Tournament quarterfinal played at the Berry Events Center on Wednesday evening.

The Wildcats, with a 22-9 overall record after amassing a 14-4 mark in conference games, host the tournament semifinals and finals this weekend by virtue of their regular-season championship that gave them the tourney’s No. 1 seed.

Purdue NW came in No. 8 and finishes its year at 13-16 with a 7-11 GLIAC mark.

NMU plays in Saturday’s first semifinal at 1 p.m. against No. 4 Grand Valley State, while No. 3 Ferris State and No. 7 Wayne State square off at 3:30 p.m. Those winners meet for the tourney title and the league’s automatic berth to the NCAA Division II tournament at 2 p.m. Sunday.

Those games are scheduled to be broadcast on radio station WUPT 100.3 FM The Point.

Northern lost to GVSU 106-99 in double overtime at the Berry on Feb. 29 as Marquette Senior High School graduate Marius Grazulis scored 22 points for the Lakers and NMU leading scorer Max Weisbrod marked his return from injury with 27 points.

On Wednesday, Dylan Kuehl was a force on offense for NMU, scoring 27 points on 13-of-17 shooting as he also made his only free throw attempt. He added in two blocked shots and two assists with no turnovers in 35 minutes court time.

Teammate Brian Parzych added 15 points on 6 of 10 from the field, including a pair of 3-pointers, as he joined Weisbrod in making five assists as Parzych, a guard, also had two blocks and three rebounds.

Weisbrod scored eight points, while Carson Smith and Sam Schultz each added seven. Weisbrod also had two steals, Smith seven rebounds and Schultz six rebounds.

The Pride’s Brendan Temple challenged Kuehl for the game’s scoring honors with 26 points as he also grabbed eight rebounds. Teammate Anthony Irvin added in 12 points with a trio of triples, five assists and three steals.

NMU broke an early 4-4 tie with a 14-1 run as Smith and Parzych hit back-to-back 3-pointers to begin it before Parzych also made a layup and a free throw for an 18-5 lead with 10:56 left in the first half.

As quickly as Northern built the lead, it was torn down as PNW used a 15-2 run to retie it 20-20 with 6:24 remaining before halftime. Irvin hit two triples during that run.

The lead see-sawed the rest of the first half with neither team taking more than a four-point lead, the Pride leading 34-30 at the break.

It was just as close to start the second half with neither team holding more than a one-possession lead until the Wildcats put together a 10-3 spurt near the 10-minute mark to go up 57-52 with 9:49 left. Kuehl hit a pair of layups during that run.

After Purdue NW narrowed its deficit to 57-56 with 7:40 to go, NMU used one last good run, 9-1, over the next three-plus minutes to go ahead 66-58 with 4:26 to go. Parzych and Kuehl accounted for all of Northern’s points in that stretch.

While the Wildcats couldn’t push their lead into double digits, the Pride never got back within one possession in the remaining time.

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