Huskies Rout Panthers Thursday Night at Home, 88-61
| Final | 1 | 2 | T | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Davenport | 32 | 29 | 61 |
|
Michigan Tech | 41 | 47 | 88 |
HOUGHTON, Mich. -- The Michigan Tech men's basketball team used a season-high 24 assists to kindle the offense and overwhelm Davenport's defense, completing the series sweep over the Panthers 88-61 at the SDC Gymnasium on Thursday night.
The Huskies have won five of its last six games and move up to 11-15 overall and 8-9 in GLIAC play, while the Panthers fall to 9-18 overall and 4-13 in the loop. Tech is now in a tie for fifth with Parkside in the league standings with one game to play in the regular season.
"The stat that stands out is the 24 assists and obviously we hit some shots but I did feel like the ball was moving," head coach Josh Buettner said. "Defensively I thought we did a nice job of limiting them in the halfcourt. We had some balance in the first half which made us hard to guard with Marcus & Dan doing what they do and Pete coming off the bench and giving us a spark. Dawson is drawing a lot of attention inside and it opens up the perimeter for us."
Halfway through the first half, MTU was down by seven points following a 3-pointer by Marcedus Leech Jr. at the 9:36 mark before the Huskies strung together a 10-0 run with Nate Abel and Josh Terrian hitting 3-pointers following a jumper by Adam Hobson to open the offense spurt.
Marcus Tomashek and Pete Calcaterra traded baskets, scoring 14 points in the next couple of minutes to pace the Huskies to an 11-point lead, capped by a slam by Calcaterra at the 3:22 mark.
Dan Gherezgher and Dawson Nordgaard netted buckets for Tech down the stretch to send the Huskies to the locker room with a 41-32 lead.
The Huskies backed the second half with more defensive urgency, holding the Panthers to just 21 points while turning up the dial on offense, pouring on 47 points.
Michigan Tech shot 50 percent from the field (17-for-34) and 50 percent from 3-point territory, making 10 triples in the second half. Tomashek accounted for half of the Huskies 3-pointers with three from Gherezgher.
"We're on a hot streak and we need to keep riding it into the playoffs," Tomashek mentioned. "We're really bought in right now and want to play for each other."
Lost in the 3-point frenzy was the one-man dunk contest from Pete Calcaterra, who had two monster dunks spanning from the 10:10 mark to the 9:01 mark that erupted the SDC Gym on both occasions.
Also possibly missed in the offensive flow was the floor general Nate Abel, dishing out seven of his career-high eight assists, who also hit a 3-pointer at the 6:38 mark to push the Huskies to a 35-point lead at 84-49, the largest lead of the game.
The High flying Huskies cruised to victory with Matt Schmainda and Peyton LaCombe entering the game to score a fastbreak layup and free-throws to convincingly complete the series sweep over Davenport, 88-61.
Tomashek led all scorers with 29 points, shooting six-for-10 from long range. Dan Gherezgher (15 points) and Pete Calcaterra also reached double-figure scoring for the Huskies, with Calcaterra a perfect seven-for-seven from the field. Dawson Nordgaard neared a double-double with nine points and a team-leading eight boards.
Marcedus Leech Jr. led the Panthers with 21 points, while Myles Belyeu added 20 for DU. Jovan Tucker and Jeff Carrier grabbed a team-leading five rebounds.
Up Next
The Huskies conclude the regular season on Saturday, welcoming Grand Valley State to the SDC Gymnasium at 2 p.m. for Senior Day.
