Huskies Men’s Hoops Outlasted in Physical Road Tilt at PNW

HAMMOND, Ind. – The Michigan Tech men's basketball team played even with Purdue Northwest trailing by three points with over 10 minutes to play in the second half before the Pride pushed the game out of reach, with the Huskies ultimately falling 79-70 at the Kube Sports Complex on Saturday afternoon.

"I don't know that we played our best and there were a few scout mistakes," head coach Josh Buettner said. "But, I saw some fight in our guys, they let a lot of physical play go so to only turn it over nine times in a game like that is something to be proud of. We were pretty reliant on Marcus offensively and we didn't really have that opportunity today but we did some good things, some guys stepped up but it just wasn't enough to get it done."

Purdue Northwest (9-8, 3-4 GLIAC) got big buckets from Jules Bikoy from the opening tip, scoring seven of the Pride's first nine points, to jump ahead of the Huskies 9-2 in the first 3:11 of action.

Michigan Tech (6-11, 3-5 GLIAC) cut PNW's lead to 3-points twice in the first half after jumping out to a multiple-possession advantage from the start, with a layup by Marcus Tomashek making it 29-26 in favor of the Pride with 3:54 to play in the half.

Dan Gherezgher scored 11 of the Huskies 33 first-half points, while Brad Simonsen and Adam Hobson each knocked down a 3-pointer off the bench. Bikoy and Brendan Temple combined for 18 of PNW's 37 first-half points as the Pride also got nine points from their reserves.

Purdue Northwest shot over 50 percent from the field in the second half, with Temple pouring on a team-leading 10 points while Gherezgher led the Huskies with 11 points in the final 20 minutes.

The Huskies cut the Pride's lead to three points on five occasions, all happening in the first 10 minutes after halftime, with a layup by Hobson making it a one-point game (48-47) at the 12:11 mark. Purdue Northwest would sustain a lead for the remainder of the contest.

The Pride strung together a 7-2 run to take an 11-point lead with under 7 minutes to play. Foul trouble plagued the Huskies down the stretch, with Marcus Tomashek fouling out with 3:26 to play as the Huskies were forced Tech to foul in the final minute of play, sealing the win for Purdue Northwest, 79-70.

Gherezgher scored a team-leading 22 points, a season-high to go with a team-high eight rebounds. Pete Calcaterra joined him in double-figure scoring with 10 points while also adding eight boards, playing a team-high 35 minutes.

Brendan Temple was the Pride's leading scorer with 17 points, while Jules Bikoy (16) and CJ Jackson (12) also scored in double-digits. Kahlil Whitehead had a team-high 10 rebounds while chipping in eight points. 

Up Next

The Huskies have just one game next week, traveling to UP rivals Northern Michigan for a 3 p.m. tipoff on Saturday at the Berry Events Center.