By Journal Sports Staff

MARQUETTE — It won’t be a program-record winning streak anymore — at least not for quite awhile — but winning eight times in nine tries is still a nifty achievement for the Northern Michigan University men’s basketball team.

The Wildcats began a new win streak at one with a 77-55 victory over GLIAC newcomer Roosevelt on Monday night in Vandament Arena.

NMU, which moved back into a tie for second place in the conference at 5-1, found a maybe unexpected top scorer as Jackson Dudek came off the bench and pumped in a game-high 18 points in just 18 minutes court time. Even with the big night, he’s averaging just 5.6 points per game this season as this feat missed his career-high scoring night by two points, according to a game account provided by NMU Sports Information.

The 6-foot-7 junior forward was pretty efficient, making 7 of 10 shots from the field, including 2 of 4 on 3-pointers, and also sank a pair of free throws while grabbing six rebounds, dishing out three assists and not committing a turnover.

Another lesser known scorer, Cal Klesmit, was next with 11 points as he hit a trio of triples also coming off the bench.

Regular dependable scorers Dylan Kuehl and Sam Privet put in 10 points apiece as they also shared game rebounding honors with eight apiece. Privet made 4 of 6 shots, while Kuehl had team highs of five assists and two steals.

Forte Prater paced the Lakers (4-10, 1-5 GLIAC) with 15 points. But the Wildcats kept a GLIAC opponent to 55 points or less for the third time in six games, and Roosevelt’s 32% shooting (19 of 60) was an NMU opponent low this season for teams in NCAA Division II.

Though the Lakers had the lead for fairly long stretches in the first half, when Klesmit hit a triple 7:39 before halftime, it gave Northern a 20-18 lead it wouldn’t relinquish again.

Barely 3 1/2 minutes later, the Wildcats built their first double-digit lead, 30-20, on a Privet layup, and had a 38-26 advantage at intermission.

While the Lakers kept NMU within arm’s reach to start the second half, the Wildcats eventually went on an extended 23-6 run that ended with their biggest lead of the night, 69-41, with 5:41 remaining on a pair of Smith free throws.

The lead remained at a minimum of 20 points down the stretch, too.

Northern completes its four-game homestand with two more games at Vandament Arena later this week, hosting Wayne State at 7:30 p.m. Thursday and Saginaw Valley State at 3 p.m. Saturday.

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