Northern Michigan University’s Dylan Kuehl, top, goes up a shot against Lake Superior State’s Karter Richards during their GLIAC basketball game played at Vandament Arena in Marquette on Feb. 7. (Photo courtesy Cara Kamps)

HAMMOND, Ind. — The men’s basketball team at Northern Michigan University doesn’t have time for hand-wringing after blowing an opportunity to remain in a tie for first place in the league on Saturday afternoon.

That’s because the Wildcats have to get ready to host Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference co-leader Michigan Tech on Thursday night.

The Upper Peninsula rivals square off at 7:30 p.m. that evening after the Huskies recorded an 84-75 victory in Houghton in their first matchup on Jan. 8. The game is expected to be shown on WLUC-TV6 or Fox-U.P.

On Saturday, though, NMU fell to middle-of-the-pack Purdue Northwest 88-76 in Hammond, Indiana, after the Pride went on a late 11-0 run that turned a one-point game into a double-digit lead for the home team.

Northern fell to 21-5 overall and 12-4 in the GLIAC, a game behind MTU and Grand Valley. Purdue NW is a modest 11-12 overall and 7-9 in league, tied for seventh but only a game behind fourth-place Wayne State.

Two nights earlier, PNW lost by just two points to a visiting Tech, so the Wildcats had to know the Pride might be better than their record.

As he often does, Dylan Kuehl tried to do everything to will a win for Northern, scoring a game-high 27 points by making 12 of 18 from the field, including a 3-pointer, adding in a team-high seven rebounds.

Bennett Basich scored 15 points, making 2 of 3 on 3s and 5 of 6 free throws while adding four rebounds and no turnovers in 28 minutes court time.

And NMU’s Sam Privet came off the bench to score 14 points, hitting 4 of 5 from the field and 6 of 8 free throws. Teammates Jackson Dudek and Charlie Miller scored nine points apiece, too.

Ahlante Askew scored 22 points, hitting 5 of 7 triples, to pace five PNW players scoring in double figures.

The Pride jumped out to an early lead only to have the Wildcats tie the score four times before finally taking their first lead, 22-21, with 12:29 left in the first half on a Miller 3.

That lead lasted about five minutes before Purdue NW got out front again. Northern didn’t let them build it back very big as NMU was either tied or ahead for the final 3:43 of the first half, including 40-38 at intermission.

However, Northern was forced to play from behind throughout all but the first two minutes of the second half.

PNW tied it 40-40 on a Kyle Ross jumper with 18:46 to go, and other than a 42-42 tie just about a minute later after a Dudek layup, the Wildcats trailed the rest of the way.

But they kept their deficit in single digits for a long time, getting back to as close as 64-63 with 4:40 left on a Privet jumper. That’s when the Pride went on their extended run, keeping NMU from scoring for 3 1/2 minutes to make it 75-63 with 1:22 to go.

Eight seconds after that, Basich hit a 3 to pull his team within nine, and after a traditional three-point play by Kuehl another seven seconds later, NMU was down just seven, 76-69, with 1:07 remaining.

But they couldn’t get any closer, with Northern coach Matt Majkrzak’s fouling strategy not working as PNW hit 10 out of 10 free throws in the final 63 seconds.

Purdue NW 88, NMU 76

Saturday at Hammond, Ind.

Summary (field goals, free throws, total points)

NORTHERN MICHIGAN — Kuehl 12-2-27, Basich 4-5-15, Dudek 4-0-9, Polite 1-0-2, Privet 4-6-14, Miller 3-0-9. Totals 28-13-76.

PURDUE NORTHWEST — Askew 7-3-22, Ashton 2-8-13, Taylor 4-3-11, Clark 5-0-10, Ross 3-0-6, Abdelkarim 3-4-12, Arellano 2-0-5, Stoutermire 1-3-5, Hall 2-0-4. Totals 29-21-88.

Halftime score: NMU 40-38

FG shooting: NMU 28 of 57 (49.1 percent), Purdue NW 29 of 54 (53.7 percent); 3-point shooting: NMU 7 of 21 (33.3 percent), Purdue NW 9 of 22 (40.9 percent); FT shooting: NMU 13 of 17 (76.5 percent), Purdue NW 21 of 25 (84 percent); Rebounding, NMU 27 (Dylan Kuehl 7), Purdue NW 34 (Kyle Ross 11); Assists, NMU 10 (Cal Klesmit 3), Purdue NW 13 (Ross and Ahlante Askew 3 each); Steals, NMU 4 (Charlie Miller 2), Purdue NW 6 (Kevin Taylor and Garrett Clark 2 each); Turnovers, NMU 8, Purdue NW 9.

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