Northern Michigan University’s Max Bjorklund drives with the ball during a Wildcats’ men’s game earlier this season at the Berry Events Center in Marquette. (Photo courtesy NMU)

MARQUETTE — The Northern Michigan University men’s basketball team is riding a seven-game winning streak and looks to carry that momentum into today’s 7 p.m. GLIAC Tournament quarterfinal round game against Lake Superior State.

Tonight’s winner advances to the tourney’s semifinal and final rounds to be held at the school of the highest remaining seed. Semifinals are scheduled for Saturday and finals on Sunday.

NMU is the No. 3 seed with 16-11 overall and 12-8 GLIAC records. That means it would take losses by the top two seeds for the Wildcats to host this weekend.

In other quarterfinals scheduled for today, No. 1 Ferris State hosts No. 8 Davenport at 7:30 p.m., No. 2 Michigan Tech hosts No. 7 Wisconsin-Parkside at 7:30 p.m. and No. 4 Saginaw Valley State hosts No. 5 Grand Valley State at 7 p.m.

NMU earned their position by finishing the regular season last week with two wins on the road, beating Lake Superior State 102-69 on Thursday and league-leader Ferris State 93-87 on Saturday.

Against LSSU, Max Bjorklund had 21 points while John Kerr and Nick Wagner each added 20.

On Saturday at FSU, Bjorklund put himself atop the NMU record books with the best performance in one half in the history of the program. In the second half, Bjorklund scored 40 points on 14 of 15 overall shooting, including 9 of 10 on 3-pointers, and 3 of 3 from the free throw line. He finished with 46 points, tying him for the sixth-highest point total in a single game in Northern men’s hoops history.

Here are some other NMU statistics as they rate for the team and in the GLIAC that were gleaned by NMU Sports Information:

• Bjorklund improved his team top scoring pace, averaging 16.2 points per game, which is also eighth in the GLIAC. Kerr at 12.2 ppg and Justin Brookens at 11.6 ppg are also averaging double figures for Northern.

• Kerr owns a 57.7% shooting percentage (124 of 215), good for third in the GLIAC

• And Kerr also has 78 offensive and 133 defensive rebounds to lead the Wildcats on the glass with 211 total boards

• NMU averages 79.5 ppg, good for second in the GLIAC

Tonight’s opponent, Lake Superior State, is 16-10 overall and finished 11-9 in the GLIAC. Malek Adams is second in conference scoring, averaging 19 ppg.

NMU is 4-6 in its last 10 matchups with the Lakers. The teams split this season, with the road team winning each game. LSSU won 74-72 on Dec. 11 in Marquette despite Northern freshman Brian Parzych scoring 20 points as Adams had 23 for the Lakers. The Wildcats just won Thursday at Lake State in Sault Ste. Marie.

Fans can follow @NMU_Wildcats on Twitter for continued coverage throughout the week and during games.

Tonight’s game will be broadcast on radio station WUPT 100.3 FM The Point, while information is also available online. Video can be found at bit.ly/3p9bkfw and live statistics at bit.ly/3BIee07.

Information compiled by Journal Sports Editor Steve Brownlee. His email address is sbrownlee@miningjournal.net.