Northern Michigan University’s Dylan Kuehl, center, gets double teamed by Grand Valley State’s Ethan Alderink, left, and Trevor Smith as Kuehl brings the ball across midcourt during the GLIAC Tournament championship game played at Vandament Arena in Marquette on March 8. (Photo courtesy Cara Kamps)

NORTH CANTON, Ohio — The men’s basketball team at Northern Michigan University wasn’t able to keep up their end of the bargain to make the Midwest Regional championship game an all-Upper Peninsula final.

The Wildcats bowed out of the NCAA Division II Tournament in the semifinals of the Midwest Region, losing to regional host and No. 1 seed Walsh 86-68 on Sunday evening.

With No. 5 seed NMU out, No. 3 Michigan Tech continued on to the final, holding off Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference rival and No. 2 seed Grand Valley State 69-67 in Sunday’s earlier semifinal.

The Huskies (28-6) will face Walsh (29-3) at 7 p.m. today for the regional title and a ticket to the NCAA Elite Eight that begins March 25 in Indianapolis and ends with the national championship game there on April 5.

In Northern’s game, the Cavaliers took the lead for good less than four minutes in, then built a double-digit lead about 10 minutes later that NMU was only able to dig into a few times in the second half.

“(Walsh’s) second group’s energy got us, and they took advantage of us,” Wildcats head coach Matt Majkrzak said in an NMU Sports Information news release about the game. “They made more tough shots and some of that is executing what they wanted to do better than us executing what we wanted to do.”

The Wildcats finish their season at 28-7, the most wins in program history after their fourth straight NCAA tourney appearance, though this year was only the second time in that span they managed a win in the Midwest Regional.

“This is my favorite team I’ve ever coached, by far,” said Majkrzak, who was recently named GLIAC Coach of the Year for the second time at NMU. “You’ll never find a group that likes each other more and is more connected and they were everything right with college sports.

“Northern Michigan basketball is now a brand and it’s as good of a brand as any. I am really proud of that. This group ending the way they did with 28 wins, breaking the school record, put a great final stamp on Northern Michigan basketball.”

GLIAC Player of the Year and GLIAC Defensive Player of the Year Dylan Kuehl led NMU with 19 points, though he was only 0 of 3 on 3-pointers, adding in six rebounds and three assists.

Kuehl finished No. 2 on the Northern men’s all-time scoring list with 2,197 points, just 27 points short of all-time leader Bill Harris, who played in the mid-1980s.

Teammate Bennett Basich added 15 points, hitting a 3 and grabbing three rebounds in just 17 minutes, while Cal Klesmit had 10 points, hitting three triples, and getting four rebounds, three assists and two steals.

The Wildcats’ Charlie Miller scored nine points, all on a trio of 3s, while Jackson Dudek contributed seven points while grabbing a team-high eight rebounds.

Walsh’s Kaleb Schaffer led all scorers with 20 points, including four 3s, as he came off the bench and played just 18 minutes.

Despite Klesmit hitting a pair of triples in the game’s first 2:08, Walsh took its first lead at 8-6 with 16:50 left in the first half on a Zack Oddo layup.

NMU’s Trevor Polite hit another 3 just 13 seconds later to give the visitors their final lead, 9-8. Before the game turned four minutes old, though, Walsh’s Kobe Mitchell hit a triple that began a 9-0 run and gave the Cavaliers a 17-8 lead 12:26 before intermission.

Walsh took its first double-digit lead not quite six minutes later, 26-15, with 6:43 to go in half No. 1, settling for a 39-29 advantage at the break.

Basich hit a jumper and Kuehl made a layup early in the second half to pull Northern within six, 39-33, with 18:20 to go. The Wildcats wouldn’t get that close again until the final four minutes.

The Cavs pulled ahead by 14 points on four occasions, the final time 61-47 with 11:02 left after an Oddo triple.

NMU slowly chipped away after that, getting back within six, 71-65, with 3:54 remaining on a Kuehl jumper.

But Walsh quickly answered with Quintero Barnett making layups 47 seconds apart to put his team back up 10 points, 75-65, with 2:43 to go.

Then between a pair of triples and 5 of 6 free throws down the stretch, the Cavaliers built their advantage to 18 points by game’s end.

Walsh 86, NMU 68

NCAA Division II Midwest Region semifinals

Sunday at North Canton, Ohio

Summary (field goals, free throws, total points)

NORTHERN MICHIGAN — Kuehl 8-3-19, Basich 6-2-15, Klesmit 3-1-10, Dudek 3-1-7, Privet 1-0-2, Miller 3-0-9, Polite 2-1-6. Totals 26-8-68.

WALSH — Mitchell 5-0-15, Biddell 4-0-12, Barnett 4-1-9, Gross 2-4-8, Oddo 3-0-7, Schaffer 8-0-20, Cunningham 3-2-8, Monterrubio 1-5-7. Totals 30-12-86.

Halftime score: Walsh 39-29

FG shooting: NMU 26 of 65 (40 percent), Walsh 30 of 61 (49.2 percent); 3-point shooting: NMU 8 of 28 (28.6 percent), Walsh 14 of 31 (45.2 percent); FT shooting: NMU 8 of 16 (50 percent), Walsh 12 of 16 (75 percent); Rebounding, NMU 37 (Jackson Dudek 8), Walsh 39 (Brayden Gross 8); Assists, NMU 13 (Dylan Kuehl and Cal Klesmit 3 each), Walsh 15 (Jadi Cunningham 5); Steals, NMU 3 (Klesmit 2), Walsh 5 (Zack Oddo 2); Turnovers, NMU 8, Walsh 7.

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.