After the Wildcats’ Jackson Dudek opened the scoring in the first minute with a layup, the Huskies took a 3-2 lead about a minute later on a Marcus Tomashek 3-pointer and never relinquished their advantage.

Tech, the No. 3 seed in the eight-team Midwest Region now at 24-7, built its advantage to double digits, 23-12, with 10:31 left in the first half on a Dawson Nordgaard dunk.

NMU, which came in as the No. 6 seed and finishes at 22-10, whittled its deficit to five points, 31-26, on a Dylan Kuehl jumper about seven minutes later.

But MTU finished the first half on an 11-3 run to take a commanding 42-29 lead at halftime.

Northern Michigan University’s Brian Parzych, left, and Michigan Tech’s Nate Abel go to the floor for a loose ball during their GLIAC game played at Vandament Arena in Marquette on Jan. 9. (Photo courtesy Cara Kamps)

The Wildcats were able to get within single digits twice in the second half, the closest at eight points, 76-68, with 4:19 to go on a Brian Parzych layup.

After that final Northern run, the Huskies put together a 7-0 spurt to go ahead 83-68 with 1:55 remaining and effectively end NMU’s season.

Kuehl finished with a team-high 20 points, including three triples, as he shared game rebounding honors with Dudek as each grabbed nine. Dudek, the MVP of the GLIAC Tournament, finished with seven points and a team-high three assists, too.

Parzych added 13 points, making 5 of 7 shots overall including 3 of 4 on treys, while teammate Cal Klesmit contributed 10 points with a pair of 3s and Derek Merwick had nine points.

Tomashek, the GLIAC Player of the Year, and MTU teammate Pete Calcaterra led all scorers with 22 points apiece. Calcaterra came off the bench, making 11 of 12 shots, all 2-pointers, along with 4 of 4 free throws and a team-high eight rebounds, while Tomashek was 9 of 11 at the free-throw line as he dropped in a trio of triples.

Northern Michigan University’s Dylan Kuehl, left, drives toward the basket while closely guarded by Michigan Tech’s Gabe Smith during their GLIAC game played at Vandament Arena in Marquette on Jan. 9. (Photo courtesy Cara Kamps)

In this fourth matchup of the season between these two Upper Peninsula rivals, Tech won the season series 3-1. The Huskies won both regular-season matchups, 88-65 in Marquette on Jan. 9 and 67-64 in Houghton on Feb. 20, but Northern won their encounter in the GLIAC Tournament semifinals 69-68 in Houghton on March 8.

That conference tourney win, combined with the Wildcats’ 78-63 victory over Lake Superior State in the tourney finals, insured NMU’s berth in the NCAA tourney for the third straight year.

On Saturday, the U.P. combatants pretty much played to a draw shooting the ball, Tech holding an overall advantage but NMU shooting better from 3. MTU made 51% from the field (31 of 61) and 39% from 3 (10 of 26), while Northern was at 43% overall (26 of 60) but 48% on triples (10 of 21).

The Wildcats had a 38-31 rebounding advantage, but Tech had a 9-3 edge in fewer turnovers, fueled by a 6-0 difference in steals. That turnover margin also set up the Huskies with a 16-1 scoring advantage off the turnovers.

This season marked another 20-win year for Northern, something the team had never before done in three consecutive seasons, and was also the third conference championship in three years between regular season and tournament titles.

MTU, which won the GLIAC regular season with a 17-3 record, advanced to Sunday evening’s Midwest Region semifinals to take on region No. 2 seed LSSU, which downed No. 7 Lincoln (Missouri) 76-64 on Saturday.

On the other side of the Midwest bracket on Saturday, No. 1 Missouri S&T downed No. 8 Malone 85-77 and No. 4 Missouri-St. Louis edge No. 5 Ferris State 81-79 with the two Missouri schools facing off later Sunday night in the other regional semi.

Semifinal winners meet again in Springfield for the regional championship at 8 p.m. EST Tuesday.

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.