Northern Michigan University’s Dylan Kuehl gets his second dunk of the day during a GLIAC Tournament quarterfinal game played against Ferris State at Vandament Arena in Marquette on Wednesday. (Photo courtesy Cara Kamps)

MARQUETTE — Nicer spring-like weather could help fans come out in droves just in time to see the men’s basketball team at Northern Michigan University try to win its conference tournament title this weekend at Vandament Arena.

As the event’s No. 1 seed, the Wildcats earned the right to host at Vandament Arena a pair of semifinal games today and the championship tilt on Sunday for the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Tournament.

NMU, with a 26-5 record and No. 17 ranking in the nation, hosts tourney No. 4 seed Lake Superior State (18-11) at 2 p.m. today in one semifinal, with the matchup pitting No. 2 Michigan Tech (26-5) and No. 3 Grand Valley State (23-6) at 4:30 p.m.

Those winners come back to Vandament for the championship at 2 p.m. Sunday with the league’s automatic berth into the NCAA Division II tournament on the line.

The Wildcats are seeking their fifth conference title in the last four seasons when looking at the regular season and tournament together. They won one or the other in each of the past three years and seek both this season.

They set the program record for wins, 26, when they knocked off tourney No. 8 seed Ferris State 91-62 on Wednesday night in the first-round quarterfinals.

Today’s game — and Sunday’s if Northern gets that far — will be streamed online on FloCollege and be broadcast by Marquette radio station WUPT 100.3 FM. Fans can also follow @NMU_MensBBALL and @NMU_Wildcats on X (formerly Twitter) and @nmu_mbb on Instagram for updates throughout the weekend, or visit the Northern athletics website at nmuwildcats.com and look under the men’s basketball schedule for links to ticket information, live video, live statistics and a preview.

Tickets are available for purchase online at tickets.nmu.edu or available in person at the Superior Dome, with separate tickets required for each game as Vandament will be cleared between today’s two games.

Prices are $12 for bleacher and $16 for chairback tickets for the general public, $2 for bleacher seats for college students with proper ID, and children under 2 years old admitted free. An all-tournament pass for the bleachers is $20 with GLIAC passes also valid for bleacher seating.

In Wednesday’s game, balanced scoring was the Wildcats’ theme as Dylan Kuehl put in 17 points to lead four players reaching double figures. He also shared team rebounding honors with six while making four assists.

Jackson Dudek and Bennett Basich added 13 points apiece, Basich also grabbing six rebounds, while Cal Klesmit scored 12 points, he and Basich sharing the top assist total with five each.

One week ago today, Northern wrapped up the No. 1 seed in the tournament and a share of the conference title with MTU by knocking off Wisconsin-Parkside 98-75.

After scoring 36 points two days previous for a career high, Kuehl reset that benchmark with 41 points vs. the Rangers. He made 15 of 20 from the field, including 4 of 7 on 3-pointers, and 7 of 7 free throws as he added a game-high nine rebounds and three blocked shots, sharing top honors in assists with four, and not turning the ball over in 31 minutes court time.

The 77 points combined was enough to get him named GLIAC Offensive Player of the Week for the third time this season.

Kuehl averages 21.2 points per game, in the top 15 nationally, while shooting 56.8% from the field and averaging 6.3 rebounds a contest.

In GLIAC games, he was the No. 1 scorer at 23.8 ppg, with his 58.6% from the floor ranking second, 1.5 blocks an outing third and 6.4 rebounds 10th.

He’s now at 2,106 career points to rank No. 3 for NMU men all-time, trailing No. 2 Cory Brathol by just four points and No. 1 Bill Harris by 118. He was also named to the Trevor Hudgins Award top-25 list, then moved into the top-15 more recently.

Klesmit shoots from long range quite well, finishing third in the league with 2.9 triples per game and No. 1 in shooting them at 45.5%. He averages 12.3 ppg.

Dudek is second on the team in scoring, just ahead of Klesmit at 12.4 ppg, with his 42.8% career 3-point shooting No. 8 among all active Division II players with at least 80 attempts. He’s also the reigning GLIAC Tournament MVP.

Lake State edged No. 5 tourney seed Purdue Northwest 93-91 in overtime in Wednesday’s quarterfinals, while Tech also eased by No. 7 Davenport 72-70 and Grand Valley took down No. 6 Wayne State 81-67.

Northern split with LSSU in the regular season, NMU winning 77-74 in Sault Ste. Marie on Jan. 15 before falling 71-68 at home on Feb. 7.

Tech, the highest nationally ranked GLIAC team at No. 15, has identical records to NMU at 26-5 overall and 16-4 in league. These two Upper Peninsula rivals also split their games, the Huskies prevailing 84-75 in Houghton on Jan. 8 and the Wildcats winning 70-64 at Vandament on Feb. 19.

Grand Valley ranks No. 25 in this week’s national poll and also split with NMU this season. Northern won 72-60 at home on Jan. 3 before these Lakers prevailed 85-80 in Allendale on Jan. 29.

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