By Journal Sports Staff

WISCONSIN DELLS, Wis. — Scoring by committee might not be such a bad way to go for the Northern Michigan University men’s basketball team this season.

At least it worked on opening weekend as the Wildcats scored a pair of double-digit victories at the Midwest Region Tip-Off Tournament at the Justagame Fieldhouse.

All 10 NMU players scored each night as the opponent had the high individual scorer each game of the Wildcats’ 78-59 win over Maryville and 77-63 victory past Missouri-St. Louis.

Northern apparently likes this venue so much this Wildcats’ team will return to the Wisconsin Dells this weekend for a single game against Illinois-Springfield at 4 p.m. EST Saturday.

With a couple more road games in Minnesota the weekend before Thanksgiving, this NMU team won’t have its home opener at the newly refurbished and expanded Vandament Arena until Saturday, Nov. 30, when the Wildcats host Concordia at 3 p.m.

Here are details from last weekend:

NMU 78, Maryville 59

On Friday evening, Northern spread out its scoring as returning guard Brian Parzych scored 15 points, returning forward Dylan Kuehl 14 and newcomer guard Julien Smith 10.

NMU’s biggest advantage came on the boards and at the free throw line. The Wildcats held a 47-26 rebound advantage, while also making 16 of 22 free throws to just 2 of 5 for Maryville.

Due to the rebounding advantage, Northern also led in second-chance points, 20-1.

Sam Privet led the Wildcats on the glass with a game-high 11 rebounds as he made 4 of 6 shots to score eight points and committed no turnovers in 26 minutes game time.

In his NMU debut, Biggie Luster had four steals and two assists while scoring four points in just 14 minutes on the court.

Maryville’s Keyyaun Batchman led all scorers with 18 points.

After numerous lead changes to start, NMU took the lead for good, 29-27, when Kuehl made a layup with 3:45 left in the first half.

The Wildcats increased it to 38-30 by halftime, the final bucket coming with 1:21 left on a Privet tip-in.

NMU also scored the first seven points of the second half to immediately boost its lead into double digits, where it stayed the rest of the way.

Northern twice extended the lead to 21 points more than 10 minutes apart — at 56-35 after a pair of Gerald Gittens free throws with 11:34 to go, then at 78-57 following a Kuehl dunk with 45 seconds left.

NMU 77, Mo.-St. Louis 63

On Saturday evening, all 10 players scored again, while all 10 also had an assist, this time with Smith leading the scorers with 15 points as he hit 2 of 3 on triples and 5 of 7 free throws. He also had four rebounds, two steals and no turnovers in 26 minutes playing time.

Parzych added 13 points, also hitting two 3s, while Luster came off the bench to pump in 11 points as he hit 5 of 5 from the field and also made his only free-throw attempt in just 15 minutes.

While Kuehl scored a modest five points, he grabbed a game-high 11 rebounds, a third of NMU’s total. Privet, Gittens and Brandon Trilli each scored eight points.

Again, the losing team had the game’s high scorer, Emanuel Prospere II coming off the bench to record 16 points along with a game-high five assists.

The Tritons held the lead throughout the game’s first 11 minutes, only to have Northern wrench it away when Gittens hit a jumper with 8:34 left before halftime that put NMU up 16-15.

Northern then kept the advantage and was up 36-32 by halftime following a Privet triple at the buzzer.

Though St. Louis made a bit of run to start the second half, eroding the Wildcats’ lead to 36-35 after Matt Enright hit 3 of 3 free throws, Northern needed just another four minutes to increase its advantage to double digits after Smith sank a 3 with 15:37 to go that made it 48-37.

Northern’s lead remained in double digits for the last nine minutes, the high-water mark of 17 points at 76-59 with 2:57 to go following a Smith traditional 3-point play and again at 77-60 with 16 seconds remaining after a Gittens free throw.

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