MIDLAND, Mich. - Without its top two scorers in Max Bjorklund and Brian Parzych, two freshmen and two redshirt freshmen stepped up on Monday, with all four eclipsing double figures to lead the way for the NMU men's basketball team in a wire-to-wire 81-52 victory over Northwood.

Max Weisbrod led the way with 21 points on 8-10 shooting including a 5-6 mark from downtown. He added six assists and four rebounds. Dylan Kuehl chipped in 16 points and Najashi Tolefree posted a career-best 15 points. Jackson Dudek added 13 off the bench along with seven rebounds. 

NMU improved to 11-3 and went 32-65 (49.2%) from the floor including a 9-19 (47.4%) mark from downtown. Northwood, now 1-14,  shot 17-49 (34.7%) from the floor and 5-18 (27.8%) from deep. 

NMU dominated in the paint on the day, outscoring NU 46-14 down low and holding a 40-27 edge on the glass. 


How it Happened
The Wildcats started the contest jumping ahead 6-0, kicked off by a Max Weisbrod putback to open the scoring. Dylan Kuehl got to the free-throw line early and between his success there, and being part of back-to-back triples with Weisbrod, NMU got the lead to double digits early on. 

After some substitutions, Najashi Tolefree connected on a pair of sky hooks as part of eight first-half points for the freshman. His presence down low led to a Northwood timeout, with NMU up 27-10 a dozen minutes into action.

After a cold stretch of over four minutes without scoring, Weisbrod hit a jumper in the paint and a deep three from the top of the key to close out the half with the Green and Gold in front 41-19. His 13 points led all scorers at the intermission. NMU forced Northwood into 10 first-half turnovers. 

The Wildcats kicked it into cruise control in the second half. In his first game since the season opener, Sam Schultz got going with consecutive hoops down low. Max Weisbrod hit two more triples, his fourth and fifth of the day, to cap off a 10-0 run to go up 35. 

The lead would get as high as 36 at 71-35 before a 10-0 Northwood run shortened the deficit. Najashi Tolefree capped off an and-one late to hit a career-best 15 points. In his first game of the season, Ben Wolf also got his first scratch of the season.


Postgame Notes

• Max Weisbrod led the way with 21 points on 8-10 shooting including a 5-6 mark from downtown. He added six assists and four rebounds. 
• Dylan Kuehl chipped in 16 points and Najashi Tolefree posted a career-best 15 points. Jackson Dudek added 13 off the bench along with seven rebounds. 
• Anthony Sanders was the lone double-digit scorer for Northwood with 12 points. 
• NMU shot 32-65 (49.2%) from the floor including a 9-19 (47.4%) mark from downtown. Northwood shot 17-49 (34.7%) from the floor and 5-18 (27.8%) from deep. 
• NMU dominated in the paint of the day, outscoring NMU 46-14 down low and holding a 40-27 edge on the glass. 

Up Next
NMU remains downstate as they will get set to take on Wayne State on Thursday, January 5 at 7:30 p.m.