Northern Michigan University’s Dylan Kuehl, in white with ball at center, gets triple-teamed and fouled going up for a shot during a college men’s basketball game played against Minnesota-Duluth at Vandament Arena in Marquette on Saturday. (Photo courtesy Cara Kamps)

MARQUETTE — With the men’s basketball team at Northern Michigan University about to embark on its conference season, the Wildcats improved to 4-1 with a 79-53 rout of Minnesota-Duluth at Vandament Arena on Saturday afternoon.

NMU travels to the southern end of Lake Michigan to open play this week in the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference. Northern plays in Kenosha, Wisconsin, against Wisconsin-Parkside at 8:30 p.m. EST Thursday, then heads a bit further south to Chicago to take on Roosevelt at 4 p.m. EST Saturday.

After that, the Wildcats play another four nonconference games, including two in Puerto Rico during the week preceding Christmas, before returning to nothing but GLIAC games for the rest of the season in 2026.

On Saturday, the Wildcats handed Duluth just its second loss in seven games after the Bulldogs had lost to Michigan Tech and defeated Lake Superior State the previous weekend at home.

On this day, Northern shot exactly 50% both overall from the field and at the 3-point line while limiting UMD to around 30% in both those shooting statistics. And though it was with just a handful of chances, the Wildcats also made 90% on their free throws, 9 of 10.

Reigning GLIAC Offensive Player of the Week Dylan Kuehl led five NMU players scoring in double figures with 17 points, making 6 of 7 free throws while grabbing eight rebounds and dishing our four assists.

Teammates Charlie Miller and Brooks Hinson added in 13 points apiece, while Sam Privet had 12 and Jackson Dudek 10.

Hinson, who also dished out a game-high six assists, had his top scoring game of the season as he hit 5 of 9 from the field, including 3 of 5 triples.

Dudek led all rebounders with 11, every one coming on the defensive boards, as Northern held a solid 42-32 rebounding edge to cancel out a 11-5 disadvantage in turnovers. Miller and teammate Trevor Polite added five rebounds apiece, while Miller didn’t commit a turnover in 30 minutes court time.

Jackson Fowlkes and Noah Paulson paced UMD (5-2) with 12 points apiece.

Despite the lopsided final score in Northern’s favor, the Bulldogs led for almost all of the first seven minutes, NMU not getting on the board until almost 4 1/2 minutes had elapsed on a Privet jumper.

Once they found their range, though, the Wildcats started pouring in the points. A Hinson layup with 10:57 left in the opening half gave NMU the lead for good, 14-13, which started a 9-0 run.

Northern reached its first double-digit lead, 36-25, with 1:52 left in the half on a Miller triple as the Wildcats were up 44-30 at halftime.

Just like at the game’s start, they needed a few minutes to heat up again in the second half, still only leading by 13, 55-42, after a Paulson layup with 12:46 to go.

But the Wildcats then needed just 76 more seconds to score seven unanswered points to get to their first 20-point lead, 62-42, with 11:30 remaining after a Privet dunk.

The lead got as large as 27 points, 77-50, with 1:04 left after a layup by St. Ignace High School graduate Jonny Ingalls, his first collegiate points.

NMU 79, Minn.-Duluth 53

Saturday at Vandament Arena

Summary (field goals, free throws, total points)

MINNESOTA-DULUTH — Fowlkes 4-2-12, Paulson 5-2-12, Thompson 3-2-9, Siwek 1-1-3, Hanson 3-0-7, Molhoek 1-2-5, Morgan 1-0-3, Leach 1-0-2. Totals 19-9-53.

NORTHERN MICHIGAN — Kuehl 5-6-17, Miller 4-2-13, Dudek 3-1-10, Klesmit 2-0-6, Polite 2-0-4, Hinson 5-0-13, Privet 5-0-12, Allen 1-0-2, Ingalls 1-0-2. Totals 28-9-79.

Halftime score: NMU 44-30

FG shooting: Minn.-Duluth 19 of 61 (31.1 percent), NMU 28 of 56 (50 percent); 3-point shooting: Minn.-Duluth 6 of 20 (30 percent), NMU 14 of 28 (50 percent); FT shooting: Minn.-Duluth 9 of 13 (69.2 percent), NMU 9 of 10 (90 percent); Rebounding, Minn.-Duluth 32 (Noah Paulson and Nick Katona 7 each), NMU 42 (Jackson Dudek 11); Assists, Minn.-Duluth 11 (Matt Thompson 4), NMU 19 (Brooks Hinson 6); Steals, Minn.-Duluth 8 (Thompson and Jackson Fowlkes 2 each), NMU 4 (4 players with 1 each); Turnovers, Minn.-Duluth 5, NMU 11.

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.