Northern Michigan University’s Dylan Kuehl, left, gets off a jump shot over Michigan Tech’s Pete Calcaterra during their college men’s basketball game played at Vandament Arena in Marquette on Jan. 9. (Photo courtesy of Cara Kamps)

WISCONSIN DELLS, Wis. — Dylan Kuehl exploded for a career-high 35 points to lead the men’s basketball team at Northern Michigan University to an 80-61 nonconference win over Northern State (South Dakota) at the neutral-site Justagame Fieldhouse in central Wisconsin on Friday night.

After the Wildcats got off to a sluggish start on offense, falling behind by six points on three occasions in the first 10 minutes, Kuehl helped ignite their scoring with 12 of his 18 first-half points coming in the final five minutes before halftime.

He finished off a traditional three-point play — a two-point bucket and a free throw after being fouled on the scoring play — to give NMU its first lead, 19-18, with exactly five minutes remaining in the first half.

But it wasn’t until teammate Kal Klesmit sank a 3-pointer with 1:23 to go before intermission that Northern took the lead for good, giving it a 28-26 advantage.

Kuehl tacked on a triple in the final minute to make it 31-26 at halftime, which quickly expanded to a double-digit lead in the first two minutes of the second half.

The Wildcats just kept pouring in points until they hit their only 20-point advantage, 55-35, with 12:24 left on a Kuehl jumper.

Though the Wolves would later cut their deficit to just five points, 57-52, with 6:53 left following an extended 17-2 run, NMU re-emerged with a 10-point lead less than a minute later and worked it to the final 19-point margin.

While Kuehl was just 2 of 8 on triples, his overall shooting from the field approached 60% after he made 13 of 22, while he pumped in 7 of 8 free throws, too. He added in a game-high five assists and was one of four Wildcats pulling down a team-high five rebounds.

The other top rebounders were Klesmit, who scored 14 points with three 3s, Sam Privet and Isaiah Allen.

Klesmit’s triple that gave the Wildcats the lead for good late in the first half was his first make from long distance after 10 misses to start the season. But he would go on to make two more in the second half, too.

Teammate Jackson Dudek added 14 points and two assists, while Klesmit also made a game-high three steals.

Northern had several interesting team statistical advantages, including a 32-3 scoring advantage coming off turnovers as the Wolves committed 21 turnovers to just eight for NMU. That allowed the Wildcats to take 22 more shots, a big advantage as each team shot almost exactly 46.5% from the field.

Cameron Mercadel paced Northern State (0-3) with 15 points, while Tobi Obiora had 12 points, 11 rebounds and two blocked shots.

With NMU improving to 2-1, all three of its games — plus Sunday’s that was to be played vs. Northwest Missouri State — have been held at the Wisconsin Dells.

The Wildcats return home to Vandament Arena to host two more nonconference games this week, entertaining Concordia (Wisconsin) at 2 p.m. Wednesday and Minnesota-Duluth at 1 p.m. Saturday.

NMU 80, Northern St. 61

Friday at Wisconsin Dells, Wis.

Summary (field goals, free throws, total points)

NORTHERN STATE — Mercadel 5-4-15, Oboiora 4-3-12, Book 5-0-12, Rogers 4-0-10, Bowen 1-2-4, Smith 2-0-5, Reynolds 1-1-3. Totals 22-10-61.

NORTHERN MICHIGAN — Kuehl 13-7-35, Dudek 7-0-14, Klesmit 5-0-13, Miller 1-0-3, Polite 1-0-2, Hinson 2-2-7, Privet 3-0-6. Totals 32-9-80.

Halftime score: NMU 31-26

FG shooting: Northern St. 22 of 47 (46.8 percent), NMU 32 of 69 (46.4 percent); 3-point shooting: Northern St. 7 of 18 (38.9 percent), NMU 7 of 27 (25.9 percent); FT shooting: Northern St. 10 of 14 (71.4 percent), NMU 9 of 10 (90 percent); Rebounding, Northern St. 30 (Tobi Obiora 11), NMU 36 (4 players with 5 each); Assists, Northern St. 6 (Joshua Book and Benjamin Bowen 2 each), NMU 13 (Dylan Kuehl 5); Steals, Northern St. 3 (Ty Rogers 2), NMU 9 (Cal Klesmit 3); Turnovers, Northern St. 21, NMU 8.

Story contents based on Northern Michigan University Sports Information press release reviewing the game. Journal Sports Editor Steve Brownlee’s email address is sbrownlee@miningjournal.net.