Bell reaches milestone as Tech wins eighth straight
| Final | 1 | 2 | T | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Saginaw Valley State (16-8,10-6 GLIAC) | 28 | 43 | 71 |
|
Michigan Tech (18-5,14-3 GLIAC) | 41 | 36 | 77 |
HOUGHTON, Mich. - With 19 points and seven rebounds, senior Trent Bell assisted Michigan Tech men's basketball to its eighth straight victory Thursday night 77-71 over Saginaw Valley State University. Along the way, Bell became the 32nd Husky player to reach 1,000 career points. Tech improved to 18-5 overall (14-3 GLIAC) and remained in second place in the conference standings behind Ferris State (20-5, 15-2).
Eric Carl and Owen White also pitched in 16 points apiece and Adam Hobson finished with 11, including a late second-half 3-pointer, which effectively put the Cardinals out of reach. The Huskies avenged a 66-49 road loss to Saginaw Valley State on January 15 to split the season series.
The Huskies jumped out to a quick 15-2 lead and Owen White found multiple lanes to the basket. After Tech nabbed their largest lead 37-12 with 6:46 to play in the first half, the Cardinals used a 16-4 run to trim the deficit to 43-36 at halftime.
"We needed to take care of the ball and I felt we did a really good job of that in the first half through good spacing and movement," commented head coach Josh Buettner. "We cut to paint and screened with pace to get the ball inside. That put pressure on their defense and was something we did a much better job of tonight than we did the first time we played this team."
The Cardinals used their momentum to pull within a single point of a tie game with 2:15 left to play in the second half, but Adam Hobson answered with a 3-pointer from the left wing on a kick-out from Owen White with 40 seconds left. The Huskies then hit free throws to close out the victory.
"Saginaw made it a battle to the end but we stuck with it and made some timely shots so it's a good win," Buettner said. "For Hobs, who is still a young player to step up and confidently hit a big-time shot in a big-time game was great to see."
Delano Smith helped spur the second-half comeback for the Cardinals. Smith shot 11-for-20 for 27 points with six rebounds. Darnell Hoskins Jr. also had 17 points for SVSU and Tyler Witz posted a double-double with 14 points, 11 rebounds.
Bell was an efficient 5-for-8 from the field and made seven of nine free throws, adding four assists, one steal, and one block. Hobson played a team-high 39 minutes and added five rebounds, two assists, and one steal to his 11 point total. Carl was especially effective early in the first half and late in the second half from beyond the arc and connected on 4 of 7 long-range attempts.
"I thought we played well, especially in the first half," Bell said. "It's easy to kind of relax with the lead sometimes, but I was glad we were able to withstand a couple of runs they had and hold on for the win."
The Huskies shot 49.1-percent as a team (27-55) and hauled in 34 rebounds. They continued a recent trend of playing responsible basketball with 17 assists, compared to nine turnovers.
Saginaw Valley State committed 10 turnovers and had three assists. The Cardinals fell into a tie for third place with Lake Superior State at 17-8 overall (11-6 GLIAC).
Michigan Tech will host Wayne State on Saturday at SDC Gymnasium at 2 p.m. and will honor six seniors in a ceremony prior to tipoff. The Huskies will then travel to No. 20 Ferris State next Thursday for a showdown between the two top-ranked teams in the conference. The Huskies are currently ranked No. 6 in the Midwest region and are receiving national rankings votes. The last time Tech won eight games in a row was during the 2005-06 campaign.
