Huskies Open New Year With Win Over Ohio Dominican
| Final | 1 | 2 | T | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Ohio Dominican (3-6, 1-4 GLIAC) | 22 | 35 | 57 |
|
Michigan Tech (7-2, 3-2 GLIAC) | 30 | 41 | 71 |
HOUGHTON, Mich. – The Michigan Tech men's basketball team opened the New Year by defeating Ohio Dominican 71-57 on Thursday (Jan. 2) evening at the SDC Gym. The Huskies had their worst 3-point shooting performance of the season, but their defense held the Panthers to 20 points below their season average and only 22 in the first half.
The Huskies had four players in double figures led by Austin Armga's 17. Ben Stelzer finished with 14 points after scoring 10 in the first half. Jason Hawke tallied 13 on 5-for-7 shooting and Luke Heller added 10 on 4-for-5 shooting.
"I don't think it was our best win but I'm happy because we won the game and had balanced scoring," Tech coach Kevin Luke said. "Austin didn't have his best night and it's good to know that we can win without him having to score 30."
After having an eight-point halftime lead, Tech expanded it to 17 seven minutes into the second half. A 13-3 run that was sparked by an Alex Culy 3-pointer saw six points from Armga and jumpers from Hawke and Stelzer.
The home team led by as many as 18 with 8:05 remaining but Ohio Dominican cut the lead down to nine (62-53) with 4:09 left. The Panthers got it down to eight after free throws by Melran Leach, but a layup by Armga gave Tech its a double-digit lead back and the Huskies made five free throws down the stretch.
Tech shot 44.4 percent (24-for-54) from the field and made only 5-for-19 (26.3 percent) from beyond the arc. At the charity stripe, the Huskies buried 18-for-22 (81.8 percent).
ODU was led by Leach with 14 points while Brandon Carr added 10. The Panthers shot 35.4 percent (17-for-48) from the field.
Tech led 30-22 at the break after holding the Panthers to only eight field goals and 34.8 percent shooting. ODU held its largest lead of the game at seven (14-7) with 11:24 left in the first, before Tech went on a 12-4 run to take the lead for good with 5:53 remaining.
The Huskies wrap up the opening weekend of the New Year by hosting Tiffin at 3 p.m. on Saturday (Nov. 4) afternoon. The Dragons fell 72-57 at Northern Michigan on Thursday.
"It doesn't get any easier on Saturday," Luke said. "Tiffin has a very good scorer that can really light it up. It's going to be another tough contest and we have to be ready to play."
