Huskies Handle Thunderbirds 85-48 to Conclude Play in 2023
| Final | 1 | 2 | T | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Algoma University (Ontario) | 18 | 30 | 48 |
|
Michigan Tech | 44 | 41 | 85 |
HOUGHTON, Mich. – The Michigan Tech men's basketball team heads into the new year on a two-game win streak following the seventh-consecutive homestand, seeing the Huskies defeat Algoma 85-48 at the SDC Gymnasium on Saturday afternoon.
Michigan Tech moves to 4-7 overall and 1-1 in the loop.
"I'm happy that we won," head coach Joshua Buettner said. "I was disappointed in quite a few things but I need to take a step back and realize that Algoma did some good things. I just didn't feel like we were super locked in on some things. Drew and Matt have been playing really well in practice so it was nice to see Drew get some buckets to go down and Matt guarded pretty well. Brad made some shots too and hopefully they can keep expanding on the successes they're having in practice."
The Huskies led from wire-to-wire with the nation's second-best scorer, Marcus Tomashek, starting things off with a 3-pointer off the opening tip.
Michigan Tech led by six twice early on before a free-throw from Adam Hobson made it 19-12 with 10:34 to play in the first half, giving the Huskies its biggest lead.
For the half, MTU went 19-of-36 for 52.8 percent from the field while dominating the glass with a 23-12 margin.
The Huskies lead swelled to 16 with back-to-back fast break layups by Tomashek with 4:39 to go.
Nate Abel chipped in a layup in the final seconds of the first half to make it 44-18 heading into halftime.
The Thunderbirds opened the second half with a 13-4 run before Tomashek connected on a jumper ahead of the media break with 14:54 to play.
For the game, Michigan Tech scored a staggering 50 points in the paint while seeing 35 points off the bench.
From the 4:32 mark to the finish, Tech saw 16 points come from the reserves with Brad Simonsen accounting for 10 points. Meanwhile, Peyton LaCombe chipped in four-points and Drew Barrie capped the game with a layup with 16 seconds to go, capping the score at 85-48.
The Huskies shot better than 50 percent from the field for the entire game, also winning the rebound battle 38-29.
Tomashek led all scorers with 20 points on 8-of-14 shooting while tying the team-high with six rebounds. Pete Calcaterra joined Tomashek with six boards. Dan Gherezgher and Simonsen joined in on the double-figure scoring, as Gherezgher tacked on 17 points and five rebounds while Simonsen went 5-of-7 for 13 points.
Up Next
The Huskies will take to the road next week to resume conference play. Michigan Tech will face Grand Valley State on Thursday (Jan. 4) and Davenport on Saturday (Jan. 6).
