Huskies Sink in Final Seconds to No. 12 Bulldogs
| Final | 1 | 2 | T | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
No. 12 Ferris State | 32 | 37 | 69 |
|
Michigan Tech | 32 | 36 | 68 |
HOUGHTON, Mich. – The Michigan Tech men's basketball team was five seconds from victory over the No. 12 Ferris State Bulldogs but gave up an open 3-pointer in the corner, ultimately deciding the 69-68 loss at the SDC Gymnasium on Thursday evening.
"We did a nice job of keeping in close in the first half by playing hard and being gritty," head men's basketball coach Josh Buettner said. "The second half I thought we played really well and outplayed them–we made a couple of bad mental mistakes–gave them life and then at the end, we didn't execute on what we said we were going to do."
Michigan Tech (5-10, 2-3 GLIAC) closed the final 2:05 of the first half, outscoring Ferris State (13-2, 3-1 GLIAC) 4-1 with an empathic putback dunk by Pete Calcaterra and a layup in the final seconds of the half by Josh Terrian to tie the game at 32-all heading into the halftime break.
The two teams battled in the second half with six ties and multiple lead changes through the first 10 minutes out of halftime. At the 9:03 mark, the Bulldogs regained the lead at 51-50 before the Huskies went on a 7-0 run with two 3-pointers by Terrian sandwiched between a free-throw by Marcus Tomashek.
Nate Abel made it a two-possession game with under two minutes in regulation following two free-throws, making it 68-63 in favor of the Huskies.
Down the stretch, the pesky Bulldogs got six unanswered points by Ethan Erickson, who got an and-one off a steal and score shortly after the Huskies inbounded and called the game with a 3-pointer in the corner off the inbound pass with five seconds to play.
Tomashek led all scorers with 20 points, shooting 5-for-6 from the charity stripe. Gherezgher (18) and Terrian also scored in double figures. Terrian shot 4-for-5 from 3-point range in a new career-high in points. Gherezgher earned a double-double with a team-leading 10 boards.
Ethan Erickson led a trio of Bulldogs in double-figure scoring with 16, joined by Amari Lee (12) and Olayinka Dolapo (10). Dolapo neared a double-double with a team-high nine rebounds.
Up Next
The Huskies return to action on Saturday, welcoming Lake Superior State to the SDC Gymnasium at 3 p.m.
