Northern Michigan University’s Dylan Kuehl, left, looks for a teammate while guarded by Lake Superior State’s Hunter Soper during their GLIAC game played at Vandament Arena in Marquette on Thursday. (Photo courtesy NMU)

MARQUETTE — Northern Michigan University’s fight for the top spot in the GLIAC men’s basketball race took a hit in the most excruciating way on Thursday night at Vandament Arena.

NMU’s tiebreaking shot at the buzzer to end regulation didn’t fall and Lake Superior State took advantage to post an 80-74 victory over the Wildcats in overtime.

Due to Ferris State also losing 75-63 at Michigan Tech on Thursday, Northern remained in a tie for third place in the conference as the Wildcats, Ferris and Wisconsin-Parkside all have 10-5 league records, NMU standing at 16-7 overall, Ferris 20-6 and Parkside 13-10.

But the Wildcats fell two games back of coleaders MTU and Lake State, each now at 12-3 as all the league’s top teams have five conference games left before the GLIAC Tournament starts the first week of March.

Northern has a key game against Ferris State at 3 p.m. today at Vandament Arena, its final home game of the regular season.

Thursday’s tightly contested game at Vandament featured eight lead changes and nine ties, including three lead changes and two ties in OT alone.

Despite the apparent back-and-forth nature of this contest, Northern never led at any point in the second half as NMU managed to only tie the score twice before the game reached overtime.

Fortunately for the Wildcats, the second tie came with 1:34 left with no more points scored in regulation to force OT. The game became knotted 65-65 when Jackson Dudek sank a 3-pointer from the corner.

After that, the Bulldogs missed a pair of shots, while Northern turned the ball over and took a long 3-point shot just before the buzzer by Derek Merwick that missed the mark.

NMU got off to a decent start in the extra five minutes, Dylan Kuehl making a layup to tie it 67-67 with 4:20 to go, then Kuehl adding a triple not quite a minute later to put the home team ahead 70-69.

But the Northern offense dried up after that. The Lakers, ranked No. 15 in the National Association of Basketball Coaches Division II poll this week, retook a 71-70 lead when Kingsley Perkins made a pair of free throws with 3:04 left.

Though Kuehl also put in a tip-in with 1:04 to go to pull the Wildcats within 73-72, LSSU started a long march to the free throw line, making their next five attempts over the next 55 seconds. Even after Perkins missed the second of two free throws with 9 seconds left, Lake State had built a 78-72 lead.

Gerald Gittens Jr. put in a layup with 3 seconds remaining, but one more foul to force the clock to stop turned into two more Lakers free throws for the final margin.

“I loved our fight, I loved our effort,” NMU head coach Matt Majkrzak was quoted as saying in the game’s aftermath, adding that he wasn’t happy but could live with the result because of that.

With Kuehl scoring the first seven of Northern’s nine points in OT, he led all scorers with 25 points, making a pair of triples and 7 of 9 free throws. He also grabbed a team-high nine rebounds and dished out a game-high six assists.

Dudek, a recent addition to the starting lineup, added 12 points as he also hit a pair of 3s and grabbed six rebounds, while Gittens pumped in 11 points with a trey, four rebounds and two steals.

Perkins paced LSSU (21-4 overall) with 20 points and 12 rebounds, even as he made five turnovers.

With most of the statistics nearly even, the Lakers had a bit of an advantage shooting, making 49% (28 of 57) to 44% (28 of 64) for the Wildcats. The visitors also held an edge from long range, making 46% (10 of 22) on 3s compared to just 31% (8 of 26) for NMU.

Rebounding was exactly the same, 35 on each side, while Northern committed one more foul, 17-16, and had one less turnover, 12-11.

Lake State had the lead for a majority of the first half. LSSU jumped out to a 6-2 lead before the Wildcats wrested it back and took a 12-9 advantage with 13:55 left in the opening half following a Cal Klesmit 3.

Neither team had more than a one-possession lead for the next eight minutes, then the Lakers opened a 28-21 edge with 4:58 left on a Perkins layup. LSSU actually built its biggest lead of the first half, 34-26, when Adam Harakow made a triple with 2 seconds left as the halftime score stood that way.

The visitors opened up an even bigger lead in the second half, 50-39, with 11:49 left after a Tyson Edmondson 3, but Northern steadily whittled that back to nothing — a 58-58 tie — when Gittens hit a jumper with 4:51 remaining in regulation.

Lake State rebuilt a lead that never got beyond one possession over the rest of regulation until the Wildcats retied it to force OT.

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.