Last weekend, NMU Men’s Basketball started GLIAC play with a victory over the Northwood University Timberwolves 82-71 on Thursday, then improved their record to 2-0 by defeating the Saginaw Valley State University Cardinals 86-69 on Saturday.

Besides a Northwood free throw in the opening minute of the first game, the Wildcats never gave up the lead for the rest of the weekend.

The team is doing a better job of defending and rebounding and by doing that they were able to get out and run, head coach Bill Sall said.

“When we can get out and run and get to the basket we are in pretty good shape,” Sall said.

Northwood kept the game within reach for the majority of the first half on Thursday. By the first media timeout the score was 12- 10. The ’Cats regrouped during the short break and went on a 9-2 run lead thanks to a high pressure defense causing an abundance of turnovers. The Timberwolves shrunk the lead of nine down to five by the 10 minute mark of the half. NMU went on an 11-5 run, stretching the lead to 42-30 with five minutes left to play in the first half. A timeout 29 seconds later sparked Northwood to finish the half out scoring Northern 10-4 keeping it close at 46-40 going into halftime.

The Wildcats came out strong to start the second half outscoring the Timberwolves 15-6 with 13:33 remaining making the score 61-46. For the next three minutes, Northwood dominated play, keeping the ’Cats at 61 as they scored 10 straight points closing the gap to five, 61-56 with 10 to play. NMU preceded to take back control of the game allowing only seven points before a timeout with 3:41 on the clock, the Wildcat lead was 76-64. The two teams traded baskets for the rest of the game, as the buzzer sounded Northern left with a 82-71 win. Junior guard Naba Echols led the way with 23 points. Junior forward Isaiah Johnson had 22 points and eight rebounds. Freshman forward Dolapo Olayinka scored a career-high 12 points.

Northern Michigan kept the momentum going into Saturday’s match-up with Saginaw Valley, starting the game with a 10-2 run. After a timeout with 14:30 on the clock the Cardinals outscored NMU 14-5 to take the lead 16- 15 half way through the first half. Over the next several minutes

Northern outscored SVSU 15- 2. Johnson had 11 of 15 NMU points. With five minutes remaining, the lead was 30-18 for Northern Michigan. They would go on another big 9-3 run before the half was over making it a 39-21 game going into the locker room.

Having a good defensive scheme and a good team defensive effort is how Northern held Saginaw to 21 points in the first half, Sall said.

“We pushed down to the base line disrupting what they wanted to do. We got them stuck in bad spots.”

The Wildcats were ahead by 28 points five minutes into the second half. The two teams traded baskets for the most part, NMU keeping a big lead for the whole second half. Midway through the half there was a big 68-49 Wildcat lead. In the final minutes, the Cardinals pushed but were unable to get closer than 15 points and the ’Cats came away with the 86-69 victory. Johnson dominated with a career-high 29 points and nine rebounds. Echols and sophomore guard Sam Taylor each totaled 21 points.

Northern Michigan will continue GLIAC play as they travel to face Purdue University Northwest today and then Grand Valley State University on Saturday.