Second Half Elevates Huskies Over Panthers in Defensive Battle

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. – The Michigan Tech men's basketball team outscored Davenport 35-28 in the second half to upend the Panthers in a low-scoring affair at the Davenport Student Center on Saturday afternoon.

The two teams combined for 112 points as Michigan Tech shot 17-for-47 (36.2 percent) from the field, as Davenport went 15-for-57 (26.3 percent), seeing the Huskies win by a score of 59-53. 

Michigan Tech climbs to 5-8 overall and 2-2 in GLIAC play as Davenport plummets to 4-9 overall and 0-3 in the loop.

"This was just a gritty game and our guys never gave up," head men's basketball coach Josh Buettner said. "Offensively, we told the guys that if we stick with it and we defend and rebound sooner or later, things are bound to happen–we missed some layups and free-throws early and at the end, we made some tough shots to come back and get the win–grittiness and toughness and defense travel and that's what we were preaching and it worked out today."

The Huskies jumped out to an 8-7 advantage with Dan Gherezgher scoring five points early with Dawson Nordgaard adding three points in the mix before the Panthers went on a 7-0 run to take a six-point lead at the 11:14 mark capped by a free-throw make by Myles Belyeu.

Drew Barrie entered the game following Belyeu's free throw make and went 2-for-2 and hit a 3-pointer at 5:12 to give the Black & Gold a 19-16 lead before the two teams hit an offensive dry spell for a few minutes.

Neither team could get the 3-point shot to fall as the Huskies and Panthers went just 2-for-9 from long range in the first half.

Nordgaard got two offensive rebounds with just over a minute to play in the first half, ultimately making 2-for-2 from the free throw line after being fouled on his second putback attempt by Marcedus Leech Jr., concluding the first half with the Huskies down by one point at 25-24.

Coming out of the halftime break, the Huskies got two quick fouls on James Felton, forcing him to the bench after only playing only six minutes in the first half due to foul trouble. The second foul in 20 seconds on Felton put Gherezgher on the foul line, where he hit two free throws to retain the lead.

The Panthers then went on a 10-2 spanning to the 11:02 mark, capped by free throws from Raishaun Brown.

Davenport sustained the lead until the 5:29 mark, when Marcus Tomashek hit his first 3-pointer of the game to give the Huskies a 2-point advantage. DU would tie the game two times before Michigan Tech made it a five-point game, with Gherezgher hitting a jump shot out of an MTU timeout and Tomashek's second 3-pointer less than a minute later with an assist to Josh Terrian.

Michigan Tech went 8-for-8 on free throws in the final 1:58, with Gherezgher and Calcaterra starting it off before Tomashek sealed the game with the final four free throws to take the win, 59-53.

Gherezgher had his most complete game of the season with a season-high 20 points and a career-high nine rebounds. Tomashek joined Gherezgher in double-figure scoring with a team-leading 21 points, going 9-for-13 from the charity stripe to go with six rebounds. Pete Calcaterra was a force on the glass, tying his career-high in rebounds with 11 to lead the team.

Myles Belyeu had a double-double with 12 points and 10 rebounds in 37 minutes to lead the Panthers.

Up Next

The Huskies return to the SDC Gymnasium to continue conference play, welcoming Ferris State on Thursday and Lake Superior State Saturday.