SAULT STE. MARIE, Mich. â€Â“ The Northern Michigan Universitymenâ€Â™s basketball team was down by 10 at the end of the first half, but cameback to defeat the Lake Superior State Lakers on Thursday night 71-64.  The â€Â˜Cats held the Lakers to 25 points in thesecond half as they only made nine field goals.

With the win NMU is now 10-8 overall for the season and 4-5in the GLIAC.  Lake Superioris 7-12 and 1-9 in the conference.

The Lakers held the lead for almost the entire first half asthey shot 53.6 percent from the floor (15-28). When Ricky Volcy made the score two-all about three minutes into thegame was the only time the Lakers did not have the lead in the half.  LSSU finished the first half by outscoringthe â€Â˜Cats 14 to six in the final four minutes.

The second half was a different story for the â€Â˜Cats as theywere 16-37 from the floor for 43.2 percent and held the Lakers to 34.6 percentshooting.  NMU gradually chipped away atthe lead and cut the lead to one when Claude Delmas made a basket to make thescore 53-52 in favor of the home team with 9:46left in the game.

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The Lakers would answer with a basket to up the lead tothree with less than eight minutes left at 55-52.  Back-to-back baskets by M. Volcy and SteveWatts gave the â€Â˜Cats the lead for good with a little over six minutes left inthe game at 56-55. 

The Lakers had the lead down to one point twice in the finalfive minutes of the game.  Each time theLakers were within striking distance the â€Â˜Cats answered with three-pointers byAntwuan Holt and M. Volcy. 

M. Volcy led all scorers with 21 points on the night.  He was the lone â€Â˜Cat to reach double-digitsin the scoring column.  Brother, R. Volcyhad a game-high 11 rebounds.  NMU for thegame had eight turnovers as the Lakers committed 16.  LSSU registered two more rebounds on the nightthan NMU at 42 to 40 rebounds.

For the game the â€Â˜Cats were 28-72 from the floor (38.9percent), 7-23 in three-pointers (30.4 percent) and 8-14 from the line (57.1percent).

NMU will play next on Saturday (Jan. 31) at Saginaw Valley State University.