MARQUETTE – The Northern Michigan University men’s basketball team snapped a five-game losing streak Saturday with a 70-64 home win over Hillsdale.

Naba Echols led the Wildcats with 22 points, while Terry Nash had 13 and Donnell Cegers had 10.

Hillsdale’s Kyle Cooper led all scorers with 25.

The Wildcats (5-11, 3-9 GLIAC) went on a brief run before the end of the first half to take a 30-29 lead into the break.

In the second half, Northern got off to a strong start. An Alex Mustert jumper put the Wildcats up by 10 at 57-47 with 6:55 remaining.

However, the Chargers (11-5, 7-5 GLIAC) rallied and cut their deficit to one point at 63-62.

NMU’s Isaiah Johnson then got a nice feed from Nash and put in the layup to give the Wildcats a three-point advantage.

Northern then used four free throws from Nash and Echols to close out the win.

In the first half, Hillsdale opened up with a 10-3 lead, but Northern fought its way back.

A trey from Marcus Hall gave the Wildcats their first lead of the game at 14-13.

The Chargers went on a 5-0 spurt to go up 28-23 before Northern went on its late run to close out the half.

The Wildcats play at Lake Superior State Thursday.

Information compiled by Journal Sports Writer Ryan Stieg. His email address is rstieg@miningjournal.net.