NORTH CANTON, Ohio - The Northern Michigan men's basketball team pulled off a March miracle by using a 10-2 run in the final 32 seconds of the game to stun the Rockhurst Hawks by a margin of 86-85 in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament.

"I've never seen a comeback like that," said NMU Head Coach Matt Majkrzak. "We kept fighting, and you go down to the final horn, and we win." 

The Wildcats were led by a clutch 31-point, 6 assist performance from their leader in the GLIAC and Midwest Region Player of the Year, Dylan Kuehl, who was not quite ready to let the season come to an end.

"We have a great family, and we're not ready to be done," said Kuehl. "We were not going to give up, no matter what the scoreboard said. We were going to go down swinging as hard as we could. We kept going as hard as we could, and look what happened…we are still going." 

Cal Klesmit also had a strong performance offensively with 18 points, including four three-pointers, and Bennett Basich joined his teammates in double figures with 14 of his own. 

How it Happened

The defenses from both sides looked to set the tone early, with the first bucket of the game not coming until almost two minutes into the game as Rockhurst's Micah Deaver finished in transition en route to a 5-0 advantage for the Hawks before Bennett Basich connected inside for the first Wildcat basket of the day. The Hawks worked to assert themselves early, extending their lead to 8-2, but a three-ball from Basich ignited a 10-0 NMU run that was capped off with a three by Dylan Kuehl to swing the momentum. The Wildcat offense continued to heat up with a three from Charlie Miller helping to grow the lead to 21-13 with another Wildcat run of 9-2. However, Rockhurst responded with an 8-0 run of their own to knot up the score at 21-21 going into the under-eight media timeout. Both teams began to dig in and grind out the remainder of the half, trading the lead multiple times, but the Hawks managed to close out the opening half with a 14-4 run to take a 38-31 advantage into the break.

Basich continued to be a spark coming out of the locker room, opening the second half with a three from the right wing, but the Hawks were able to press ahead and extend their lead to double-digits going into the under-16 media timeout. However, Kuehl would drive inside and throw down a monster jam to ignite the Wildcat faithful in attendance. NMU continued to assert themselves in the paint on their way to an 8-2 run to trim the deficit back down to six. Rockhurst responded with a bucket of their own inside, but the Wildcats refused to back down, getting clutch baskets from Cal Klesmet and Kuehl, including an and-one from Kuehl with 14.9 seconds left, to come all the way back and tie up the score at 85-85. Then, needing a stop, the Wildcat defense forced a miss, and after securing the key rebound, Trevor Polite was fouled in the process and hit arguably the most important free throw of his career thus far to put NMU ahead for good.

The Wildcats would officially record a 10-2 run in the final 32 seconds of the game to pull off the miracle in March to win the game 86-85 and send NMU dancing into the second round of the NCAA Tournament.

Up Next

The Wildcats will now turn their attention to the 9th ranked and top-seed in the region, the Walsh Cavaliers, on their home floor in North Canton, Ohio with a spot in the Sweet 16 on the line on Sunday, March 15 with tipoff scheduled for 7:30 p.m.

"Anytime you win an emotional first-round game, it's hard to come back and win the second round," said Majkrzak. "It will be a road game against a great team in Walsh. But I also think this group, more than any group, doesn't want this season to end. I am hoping tomorrow we will play with urgency from the beginning."