King of the North

KENOSHA, Wis. – Holding off a second half surge by Wisconsin-Parkside, Michigan Tech men's basketball took home its ninth GLIAC North Division title Friday afternoon with a 70-65 win over the Rangers at De Simone Gymnasium. The Huskies shot 52.9-percent from the floor and had four players reach double-figures, including leading scorer Owen White, who had 21 points (8-for-14) and seven rebounds. 

Michigan Tech (11-6) entered the afternoon with a one game lead over Wisconsin-Parkside (9-8) with two games left in the regular season. The conference tournament begins next week in Hammond, Indiana.

Eric Carl posted 16 points for the Huskies. Trent Bell and Dawson Bilski each tallied 11 points, and Kyle Clow injected eight points and four rebounds in 16 minutes off the bench after shooting 4-for-5.

"I was proud of how we played against a very good team," said head coach Kevin Luke. "I thought we defended very well and our offense was balanced. We hit big shots down the stretch and our play with the shot clock under 10 was exceptional. Kyle Clow gave us a nice boost today as well."

Tech led 42-30 at halftime before the Rangers came storming back to take the lead 55-54 with just over eight minutes left in the game. White, Carl, and Bell all made clutch shots down the stretch to turn the momentum back in the Huskies favor and Carl made a pair of free throws with 17 seconds remaining to give Michigan Tech the decisive two-possession advantage.

The Huskies finished 52.9-percent (27-for-51) from the field, including 32-percent (8-for-25) from the 3-point arc. Wisconsin-Parkside won the rebound category 31-22 but MTU made up the difference by limiting its turnovers to six, compared to 11 by the Rangers. GLIAC leading distributor Carter Johnston tallied six assists to go with three points. Michigan Tech's five starters played the bulk of the minutes along with Clow.

Four Wisconsin-Parkside players made it to double-digit scoring, including Vinson Sigmon Jr. (18 pts.), Ramar Evans (13 pts.), Brandon Hau (13 pts.), and Solomon Oraegbu (12 pts.). Parkside shot 51.9-percent (28-for-54) overall and 28.6-percent (4-for-14) from long range. 

The teams play again in the final game of the regular season Saturday at 4 p.m. in Kenosha.