Northern Michigan University’s Trevor Polite, center, drives through the lane as Concordia's Jacob Christjohn, left, and Alex Greene defend during their college men’s basketball game played at Vandament Arena in Marquette on Thursday. (Photo courtesy Cara Kamps)

MARQUETTE — The men’s basketball team at Northern Michigan University looked to be in midseason form at Vandament Arena on Thursday night.

And that was bad news for its opponent, NCAA Division III Concordia.

The Division II Wildcats sprinted to 14-2, 42-8, and finally a 55-10 lead at halftime for an easy 87-35 victory over their visitors from Wisconsin to improve to 7-1. Concordia slipped to 4-5.

With that kind of rout, it wasn’t surprising that NMU head coach Matt Majkrzak could empty his bench, with 16 players listed in the box score each getting at least four minutes playing time, including 10 players getting 12 or more minutes. None of the starters played more than 20 minutes.

Recent top scorer Cal Klesmit again led Northern in the scorebook, pumping in 19 points as he hit 5 of 9 on 3-pointers, 6 of 12 from the field in all, and 2 of 2 free throws while adding three steals.

Jackson Dudek put in 14 points with 4 of 6 on triples, while Dylan Kuehl had 13 points, Ross Robertson 12 and Bennett Basich 10 to go with a game-high 10 rebounds. Isaiah Allen also had nine points.

Numerous team statistics tilted heavily in the Wildcats favor.

Shooting? NMU overall shot 45% to 26% for Concordia, and on 3s, Northern hit 34% to 14% for the Falcons.

Rebounds? How about a humongous 57-14 edge. Assists? 23-5.

The Wildcats never trailed as Klesmit hit a triple and Trevor Polite a layup in the first minute to make it 5-0.

NMU reached a double-digit lead less than two minutes later, 12-2, on a pair of Klesmit free throws, then hit the 20-point plateau for its lead before 10 minutes had elapsed, 26-6 with 10:48 remaining in the first half on an Allen layup.

Skipping ahead to the first 40-point lead, that was 50-10 with 1:35 to go before halftime on a Klesmit 3.

Majkrzak called off the dogs to begin the second half, Northern not getting to a 50-point lead until Allen sank a triple with 11:52 left to make it 73-23.

Finally, the biggest lead was 56 points, 85-29, with 3:47 left on a pair of Jonny Ingalls free throws, his only points of the night. Ingalls is a St. Ignace graduate.

Concordia’s leading scorer was Javanni Blackman with eight points as ex-NMU player Casey Verhagen put in six points.

Another D-III member of the Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference, Marian, will take a stab at a better result against the Wildcats back at Vandament Arena at 3 p.m. Sunday.

When that game is over, NMU prepares for a trip off the U.S. mainland at the Puerto Rico Clasico for three games from Thursday through next Saturday.

NMU 87, Concordia 35

Thursday at Vandament Arena

Summary (field goals, free throws, total points)

CONCORDIA — Verhagen 2-2-6, Blackman 4-0-8, Landers 1-2-5, Greene 1-2-4, Heckman 0-1-1, Guyton 1-4-6, Rozowski 1-0-3, Davison 1-0-2. Totals 11-11-35.

NORTHERN MICHIGAN — Polite 3-0-6, Kuehl 6-0-13, Dudek 5-0-14, Klesmit 6-2-19, Allen 3-1-9, Ingalls 0-2-2, Schmitz 1-0-2, Basich 3-4-10, Robertson 4-4-12. Totals 31-13-87.

Halftime score: NMU 55-10

FG shooting: Concordia 11 of 42 (26.2 percent), NMU 31 of 69 (44.9 percent); 3-point shooting: Concordia 2 of 14 (14.3 percent), NMU 12 of 35 (34.3 percent); FT shooting: Concordia 11 of 13 (84.6 percent), NMU 13 of 15 (86.7 percent); Rebounding, Concordia 14 (4 players with 2 each), NMU 57 (Bennett Basich 10); Assists, Concordia 5 (Javanni Blackman 3), NMU 23 (Charlie Miller 6); Steals, Concordia 8 (Casey Verhagen 3), NMU 11 (Trevor Polite and Cal Klesmit 3 each); Turnovers, Concordia 17, NMU 15.

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.