Panthers pounce on Huskies 73-58

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. – Dropping their first road game of the season, the Huskies came up short 73-58 to Davenport Friday afternoon in Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference men's basketball at Davenport Student Center. Michigan Tech trailed by 17 points at halftime and failed to muster a comeback despite 22 points from junior guard Owen White. Davenport improved to 4-8 in the South Division while the Huskies fell to 8-4 in the North and a tie with Wisconsin-Parkside for first place. MTU has a chance to even the season series against Davenport when the two teams meet Saturday at 1 p.m. EST.

"Davenport was a very good team tonight," said head coach Kevin Luke. "They executed their offense well and competed on the defensive end. I felt we found good shots but they didn't fall and we came up short as a result. We are looking forward to playing again tomorrow."

Scott Ulaneo (24 points) and Chris Rollins (20 points) did most of the damage on offense for the Panthers. The pair combined to shoot 16-for-23 (69.6-percent). Evan Hines and Jarrin Randall also made it to double-figures with 15 and 11 points respectively.

For the Huskies, White shot 8-for-18 with four 3-pointers to tally 22 points. Eric Carl chipped in 13 points and three assists and Carter Johnston distributed a team high nine assists.

Tech made 22 of 55 (40-percent) total field goals, but struggled at volume from the 3-point arc. Dawson Bilski went 0-for-6 from long range and the Huskies connected on 11 of 37 overall. Davenport narrowly out-rebounded Michigan Tech 31-30 and won the points in the paint battle 34-16. Michigan Tech committed 14 turnovers compared to 10 for Davenport.

Following a tie at 11-11, the Panthers led the rest of the way and reeled off a 21-5 run for a 32-16 advantage. The Huskies cut the deficit to 10 on two occasions before Davenport extended the margin to 19, 66-47 in the second half. Michigan Tech made just four trips to the free throw line and made 3 of 4.