Tomashek joins 1,000-point club for Huskies
WISCONSIN DELLS, WIS. – The Michigan Tech men’s basketball team saw a 23-point career high from forward Pete Calcaterra to claim the season-opening victory over Missouri-St. Louis at the Justagame Fieldhouse in the Wisconsin Dells on Friday afternoon.
The win marked the second-straight win over USML in back-to-back years and the first season opener win for head coach Josh Buettner. Junior guard Marcus Tomashek, The GLIAC’s Preseason Player of the Year, joined the 1,000-point club for Michigan Tech as well.
“That was a very physical game and I’m proud of how hard we fought,” Tech men’s basketball coach Josh Buettner said. “We showed a collective togetherness and the bench really stepped up and gave us a huge lift. Now we need to recover and do it again tomorrow.”
Michigan Tech was down by as many as six points with 7:35 played, following a layup by Troy Glover II before Pete Calcaterra took over offensively, starting with a pass to Matt Schmainda, connecting from long range. After that, Calcaterra scored MTU’s next eight points with a fastbreak dunk, two layups and two free throws to keep pace with the Tritons, trailing by two at the 7:45 mark.
Freshman guard Ty Fernholz recorded eight points in the final 6:49 with a layup and two triples down the stretch. Dawson Nordgaard added two layups to help the Huskies sustain a 30-26 advantage heading into halftime.
After shooting 37.9 percent from the field in the opening frame, the Huskies shot 52.2 from the field in the second 20 minutes of action while also going 16-for-19 from the charity stripe, leading the whole way.
Calcaterra had 11 points in the opening 10 minutes of the second period with Marcus Tomashek finding his shot, scoring seven points in the same amount of time, with his jumper at the 10:55 mark marking his 1,000th career point as a Husky, also putting MTU ahead 48-34.
The Huskies’ largest lead came on a fastbreak triple by veteran Adam Hobson, which made it 57-42 at the 7:41 mark.
MTU went 7-for-7 from the foul line in the final 4:15, with the largest lead coming after a layup by redshirt freshman Gabe Smith, making it 72-53 with 1:44 to play, before the game was ultimately decided with the final score being 72-57.
Following Calcaterra’s career day with a team-leading 23 points (8-for-11) and nine rebounds, a trio of Huskies also joined him in double-figure scoring in Marcus Tomashek (13 points), Dawson Nordgaard (12 points) and freshman Ty Fernholz (11 points).
KC Udolisa recorded a team-leading 17 points for the Tritons, while Troy Glover II recorded a team-high eight boards.
Up Next
The Huskies round out the D2 Midwest Region Tip-Off Saturday with a 3 p.m. tilt against Maryville.
