ST. PAUL, Minn. - Facing a 26-point deficit with under 12 minutes to play, head coach Matt Majkrzak removed from the game, and two guards having fouled out, the Northern Michigan men's basketball team battled adversity and clawed all the way back to a one-possession game in the final minutes, but ultimately fell to the Concordia-St. Paul Golden Bears 108-101 in a wild shootout on Saturday. 

Following a second half sequence where Northern was handed four technical fouls in a 10- second span that included head coach Matt Majkrzak being removed from the game, the Wildcats found themselves down 83-57 with a dozen minutes left. Over the next five plus minutes, NMU went on a 25-4 run to close the deficit to five. After the teams exchanged blows over a couple of minutes, the Wildcats got it to one-possession match at 98-95 with three minutes left, but ultimately weren't able to come all the way back. 

The Green and Gold faced a halftime deficit of 54-36 in which the Bears hit seven triples, but the eventful half was yet to come. Between the two sides, 119 points were scored in the second, 52 free throws were attempted, 33 personal fouls were handed out, and four technical fouls were given out.  

Brian Parzych led the way for the Wildcats with 25 points, 21 of those coming in the second half. He went 10-13 from the charity stripe, and Dylan Kuehl tacked on 19 points. CSP's Antwan Simmons scored 29 while Jordan Horn had 28. 

NMU outscored CSP 54-32 in points in the paint and also outrebounded the Bears 47-33. CSP held a 27-16 margin in points off turnovers. NMU struggled from deep, where they went just 5-20 (25.0%), while CSP was 14-31 (45.2%). 


How it Happened

The Golden Bears jumped on the 'Cats early in their home opener, as they started 8-11 from the field and 3-4 from deep in the first six minutes, resulting in a 19-10 advantage. The Bears reached a double-digit lead at 22-12 just over seven minutes in. NMU briefly closed it to nine at 30-21, but CSP went on a 12-0 run over the next four minutes to double up the 'Cats, 42-21. 

Turnovers plagued Northern in the first half, fumbling the ball to CSP eight times. Concordia capitalized on the mistakes of the Green and Gold, scoring a dozen points off turnovers to NMU's zero in the first 20 minutes. 

Cool shooting on the offensive end while being victim of a hot shooting squad on the other end of the court is also not a recipe for success. In the opening 20 minutes, NMU shot just 11-31 (35.5%) from the floor and 2-12 (16.7%) from three, with the first make from beyond the arc coming on their eighth attempt. Concordia had already connected on six triples before that. 

The Bears shot 20-37 (54.1%) and 7-14 (50%) from three for a 54-36 lead at the half. Eight different Wildcats scored in the first half led by Max Weisbrod's seven, but CSP's Antwan Kimmons had the hottest of hands with a 17-point half on 7-8 shooting. 

The hot shooting for the Bears carried over after intermission, as they connected on two triples in the first 90 seconds of the second half. NMU countered with a triple from Dylan Kuehl, a steal and layup from Carson Smith, NMU's first points off turnovers, and an and-one from Najashi Tolefree to close the deficit to 12, 60-48, with 16:45 to play. 

The game flipped when NMU was hit with four technical fouls within ten seconds, one on Sam Schultz, one on Dylan Kuehl, and two on head coach Matt Majkrzak, suddenly giving CSP eight free throws that widened the gap to 76-52 with 14:44 to play. At the time, NMU was called for four offensive fouls in the game to just one from CSP. 

Facing its largest deficit at 83-57 with 12 minutes left, NMU went on a remarkable 25-4 run over five and a half minutes to make it an 87-82 game with just under seven minutes left. 

After some back and forth, NMU was hit with yet another offensive foul, another technical, and the Golden Bears pushed their lead back to double-digits at 94-83 with 5:44 to go. Again, NMU went unfazed, scoring 12 of the next 16 to make it a one score game, 98-95, with 3:09 to play. CSP was able to hit their shots and free throws down the stretch to hold on for the 108-101 victory.  


Up Next
The Wildcats will open up an eight game homestand over Thanksgiving break, starting with a matchup against the Hillsdale Chargers on Tuesday, November 21. Jump ball is set for 7 p.m.