Team Black Hangs On to Defeat Gold in 2017 Men’s Basketball Alumni Game

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HOUGHTON, Mich. – The Michigan Tech men's basketball alumni game was held on Saturday in the SDC as part of the 2017 Tech Alumni Weekend. Over 40 alumni were on campus for the contest which saw Team Black hold off a late charge by Team Gold for a 117-108 victory.

"It means a lot to this program and a lot to the university to have these very successful alumni come back here to play and have fun," Head Coach Kevin Luke said. "It's really touching for me because I coached a lot of them and to see these lifelong friendships that these guys have established is outstanding."

Team Black stormed out of the gate to build a large lead in the early moments of the first half and although they never trailed, Team Gold continued to battle, eventually getting back into the game. Late in the second half, Gold mounted the comeback behind the pinpoint shooting of Josh Buettner ('05) and Dell Richardson ('06). However, Black held off Gold down the stretch with clutch shooting of their own from Ben Stelzer ('15) along with some key free throw makes.

"This is one of the coolest weekend's I've been a part of," Alex Culy ('14) said. "Coming back up to Houghton to seeing different friends, families, and coaches was great. This place is really special and we have formed some really special bonds over the years. I couldn't have asked for anything better for the weekend and it's been really fun so far."

"Alumni weekend is awesome and we do our best to make it up here every five years for the reunion," JT Luginski ('03) said. "I talk to a lot of guys from other programs and they don't have something like this. Michigan Tech, Houghton, and the community are really special and we love coming back up."

"It's obvious with this kind of show out what the university means to me and a lot of these guys," said Mike Kissman ('98). "I think it's really special what Coach Luke has done here to make this a great program and that we get all these guys that travel many miles to come back to the reunion. It's a really special event for me personally and for everyone."